Uncle Bernac by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — Read

My uncle was still standing at the castle gateway, the very picture of a / usurper, with our own old coat-of-arms of the bend argent and the three / blue martlets engraved upon the stones at either side of him. He gave / me no sign of greeting as I mounted the large grey horse which was / awaiting me, but he looked thoughtfully at me from under his down-drawn / brows, and his jaw muscles still throbbed with that stealthy rhythmical / movement. I read a cold and settled malice in his set yellow face and / his stern eyes. For my own part I sprang readily enough into the / saddle, for the man's presence had, from the first, been loathsome to / me, and I was right glad to be able to turn my back upon him. And so, / with a stern quick order from the lieutenant and a jingle and clatter / from the troopers, we were off upon our journey. As I glanced back at / the black keep of Grosbois, and at the sinister figure who stood looking / after us from beside the gateway, I saw from over his head a white / handkerchief gleam for an instant in a last greeting from one of the / gloomy meurtriere windows, and again a chill ran through me as I thought / of the fearless girl and of the hands in which we were leaving her.

But sorrow clears from the mind of youth like the tarnish of breath upon / glass, and who could carry a heavy heart upon so lightfooted a horse and / through so sweet an air? The white glimmering road wound over the downs / with the sea far upon the left, and between lay that great salt-marsh / which had been the scene of our adventures. I could even see, as I / fancied, a dull black spot in the distance to mark the position of that / terrible cottage. Far away the little clusters of houses showed the / positions of Etaples, Ambleterre, and the other fishing villages, whilst / I could see that the point which had seemed last night to glow like a / half-forged red-hot sword-blade was now white as a snow-field with the / camp of a great army. Far, far away, a little dim cloud upon the water / stood for the land where I had spent my days -- the pleasant, homely land / which will always rank next to my own in my affections.