Bolesław Prus

“ There the people are different, they're my people. They'll understand me, and I'll understand them. Here things are terribly empty for me..."
The notary shook his head, but seeing the old man's fervor, he made no attempt at persuasion. He knew that a man will sometimes be swept away by a storm of homesickness and be carried off like a leaf that, if it could think, might think that it was returning to its old tree and will be reunited with it.
The Colonel went to Paris, made arrangements for the payments of his pension, presented his documents at the embassy, and obtained a passport. ”

“ Passing from one question to another, he at length heard that realpolitik should treat war as a business and that only a charlatan like Napoleon III could make war on someone else's behalf, for the sake of an idea. ”

“ It was bitterly cold, so in order to warm himself the pauper was stamping his feet on the sidewalk and slapping his arms, and he was rubbing the livid hands of the child, who had a longish overcoat, a straw hat, an unwiped nose, and ears bound up in a dirty kerchief . ”

“ He said that it's true, his legs were still strong, but he had become bored with the France of the lawyers, and he was thinking of returning to his own people. And en route, with a woman, he would have a lot of trouble.
He wanted to leave at once; he actually began seeking a buyer for his house and garden. Meanwhile three of the Colonel's compatriots and comrades from his very first campaign had arrived in Lyon. The veterans easily found one another, still more easily renewed their acquaintance, and henceforth went about as a foursome. ”