He wandered no more among his rocks; he felt no strength to read or sing.

He spent whole days crouched in the crevice of a rock, caring nought for the inclemency of the weather, motionless, fastened to the granite like the lichen that grew upon it; weeping seldom, lost in one sole thought, immense, infinite as the ocean, and, like that ocean, taking a thousand forms,--terrible, tempestuous, tender, calm.

It was more than sorrow; it was a new existence, an irrevocable destiny, dooming this innocent creature to smile no more.

There are pangs which, like a drop of blood cast into flowing water, stain the whole current instantly.

The stream, renewed from its source, restores the purity of its surface; but with Etienne the source itself was polluted, and each new current brought its own gall.
Bertrand, in his old age, had retained the superintendence of the stables, so as not to lose the habit of authority in the household.