I have been here since March 20th, crossing the threshold of eight months merely eight days ago. In that time, I have been blessed with the opportunity to help the citizens of this city, the refugees such as myself and the good people of France who suffered at the whims of a madman. I have learned a great deal and come to understand the importance of progress and the revolutions which turn this world.
Not a day passes when I have not felt with deep significance the opportunities that I have been granted, but today I was visited by an old companion, one which I have not met since my eyes burned with the smoke of gunpowder and the dust of the Paris streets. Today, I was visited by the loss of a friend.
He was a man whom I loved, and a man who gave his skill, his intelligence and his life unselfishly. I know what awaits you, Combeferre, and you shall be missed, and remembered not only by me but by every man, woman and child whose life you touched while you were here. Rest well, gentle soldier.
"Death is not an eternal sleep -- Death is the commencement of immortality!"