Classic Final (Eça de Queirós)

O Primo Basílio by Eça de Queirós

And they continued on silently, slowly. They laughed heartily at a man who passed by erratically guiding two black horses. “What a carriage! What a harness! What style! Only in Lisbon!…” At the bottom of the Aterro they turned around; and Viscount Reinaldo, running his fingers on his sideburns, said, “Seeing as how you’re not with a woman…” Basílio smiled with resignation. And, after a silence, knocking the ground soundly with his cane, said “What a pity! I could have brought Alphonsine!” And they went to have a sherry in the English Tavern.

This is the ending of O Primo Basílio, published in 1877 by Eça de Queirós generally considered the greatest realist writer in Portugal and one of the greatest in the world. (Apparently Emile Zola considered Eça to be far greater than Flaubert.)