Young as I was, I could still understand that this was the moment which he had thought of during many a lonely watch, and that the expectation of it had cheered his heart in many a dark hour.
Si jeune que je fusse, je compris que c'était le moment auquel il avait rêvé pendant bien des heures de garde solitaire et que l'espérance de goûter pareille joie l'avait soutenu dans bien des instants pénibles.