Les Misérables Volume I Book 7 Chapter 3 - A Tempest in a Skull

In which a man, living under a borrowed name and noble guise, is torn asunder by a tempest of conscience as he confronts the sudden reawakening of a shadowy past that threatens to engulf both his peace and the lives of those around him. Thus unfolds a solemn and anguished meditation on duty, selfhood, and the ironies of fate, wherein the spark of virtue flickers against the abyss of despair.