Uncle Bernac by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — Read

And now, my friends, I am coming to the end of those singular adventures / which I encountered upon my arrival in France, adventures which might / have been of some interest in themselves had I not introduced the figure / of the Emperor, who has eclipsed them all as completely as the sun / eclipses the stars. Even now, you see, after all these years, in an old / man's memoirs, the Emperor is still true to his traditions, and will not / brook any opposition. As I draw his words and his deeds I feel that my / own poor story withers before them. And yet if it had not been for that / story I should not have had an excuse for describing to you my first and / most vivid impressions of him, and so it has served a purpose after all. / You must bear with me now while I tell you of our expedition to the Red / Mill and of what befell in the library of Grosbois.

Two days had passed away since the reception of the Empress Josephine, / and only one remained of the time which had been allowed to my cousin / Sibylle in which she might save her lover, and capture the terrible / Toussac. For my own part I was not so very anxious that she should save / this craven lover of hers, whose handsome face belied the poor spirit / within him. And yet this lonely beautiful woman, with the strong will / and the loyal heart, had touched my feelings, and I felt that I would / help her to anything -- even against my own better judgment, if she should / desire it. It was then with a mixture of feelings that late in the / afternoon I saw her and General Savary enter the little room in which I / lodged at Boulogne. One glance at her flushed cheeks and triumphant / eyes told me that she was confident in her own success.