I myself was witness to the proposals made to him by one of the leaders of the antagonistic party which he had fought against. His hatred of the men he had tried to serve was so virulent, that he would gladly have joined the coalition that was about to be formed among certain ambitious spirits who, at least, had one idea in common--that of shaking off the yoke of the Court. But Marcas could only reply to the envoy in the words of the Hotel de Ville: “It is too late!” Marcas did not leave money enough to pay for his funeral. Juste and I had great difficulty in saving him from the ignominy of a pauper’s bier, and we alone followed the coffin of Z. Marcas, which was dropped into the common grave of the cemetery of Mont-Parnasse. We looked sadly at each other as we listened to this tale, the last we heard from the lips of Charles Rabourdin the day before he embarked at le Havre on a brig that was to convey him to the islands of Malay. We all knew more than one Marcas, more than one victim of his devotion to a party, repaid by betrayal or neglect. LES JARDIES, May 1840. ADDENDUM The following personage appears in other stories of the Human Comedy. Marcas, Zephirin A Prince of Bohemia End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Z. Marcas, by Honore de Balzac