His father had sacrificed the larger portion of his great fortune to the cause of Poland, and, succumbing to the most cruel persecutions, urged his sons, in their turn, to sacrifice everything for their native land.

They were ready except one brother, who wielded his sword in the service of the oppressor, and thus became to the others a dreaded and despised enemy.
Mieczyslaw remained in Berlin raging against himself because, an intellectual epicurean, he was enjoying Oriental studies instead of following in the footsteps of his father, his brothers, and most of his relatives at home.
My ideas of the heroes of Polish liberty had been formed from Heinrich Heine's Noble Pole, and I met my companion with a certain feeling of distrust.

Far from pressing upon me the thoughts which moved him so deeply, it was long ere he permitted the first glimpse into his soul.
But when the ice was once broken, the flood of emotion poured forth with elementary power, and his sincerity was sealed by his blood.

He fell armed on the soil of his home at the time when I was most gratefully rejoicing in the signs of returning health--the year 1863.

I was his only friend in Berlin, but I was warmly attached to him, and shall remember him to my life's end.
The last winter of imprisonment also saw me industriously at work.