He was there for everything. There the night she met Marius; he was sitting in a chair in the back. Hiding from view of most men and women, except for her as usual. She knew exactly where to find him, and find him she did. He was there to listen about Marius- who he knew only faintly- a man who was there to save her from her father, a man who appeared the one time he was not.
He was there when her father mistreated her and Marius was at work and out of reach.
There when Marius fell in love with another and broke her heart into pieces. There to comfort her as she cried, screaming into the dark from sorrow.
There when the barricades rose and she hid behind a hat, disguised as a boy too small to really be one. There when the shots rang out and she gasped in pain. There to see her fall back, eyes full of horror and pain. There to watch as the man who broke her heart and ruined it all held her, dying in his arms. There to hear her last breath as he carried her away, thought already dead by all. There at long last to hear her whisper;
"Thank you, 'Ferre."
I wish it would have been different for us, we would have been beautiful, wouldn't we?