If I am to be the last of the de Sigognacs, I can only say, the will of God be done.

There is still a vacant place left for me in the vault where my forefathers lie.
"BARON DE SIGOGNAC." The baron sealed this letter with the ring bearing his family arms, which was the only jewel remaining in his possession; directed it, and put it into his portfolio, to wait until he should find an opportunity to forward it to Gascony.

Although by this time it was very late, he could still hear the vague roar of the great city, which, like the sound of the ocean, never entirely ceases, and was so strange and novel to him, in contrast with the profound silence of the country that he had been accustomed to all his life long.

As he sat listening to it, he thought he heard cautious footsteps in the corridor, and extinguishing his light, softly opened his door just a very little way, scarcely more than a crack--and caught a glimpse of a man, enveloped in a large cloak, stealing along slowly in the direction the other one had taken.

He listened breathlessly until he heard him reach, and quietly enter, apparently the same door.