The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 111: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

=i — : THE BRONZE STATUE. 109 have mercy upon me; but that he re-| the stricken pair remained in that ar- sponded with bitter taunts and cruel} bour, preserving long intervals of si- irony P lence, and then speaking in low and +«¢+And you fainted under the influ-| hoarse whispers. At length, when the ence of the hideous waking-dream ?”’ | orb of day had sunk down in all the said Almeria, the cold shudder which| pomp and grandeur of its occidental again shook her own form from head to | path, they came forth from the bower. foot imparting itself to the frame of her} Yes,—hand in hand they came forth, husband as he lay half-reclining in her| with downcast looks and agitated steps; arms. and, entered the palace, they shut them- ++ Yes, I fainted,” he replied, dread | selves up in a chamber, to which Hera- horror now convulsing him as his re-|clius was presently summoned.— collection of the closing scene of his| Thither the venerable Armenian priest interview with Satan became suddenly | accordingly repaired; and to his ears vivid and blasting. ‘*But—oh! what} was revealed the tale of desolation and reminiscence is this that shoots athwart| horror which the king and queen had my brain? Did he not reproach me/|to tell. ‘The old man listened with a for believing it to be adream? Almighty | kind of stupor to the appalling narra- God—it cannot be—no—no—’tis still a| tive; but when it was completed, his dream! And yet there was something | eyes fell with an expression of bound- that he did to me Ah! I remember | less sympathy and illimitable compas- —he seized my wrist—he held it for an| sion upon the charming and unhappy instant in his iron gripe OQ horror! | Almeria. what do I behold ?———It is not a} ‘** Although myself a votary of the dream !”’ Mahometan creed,” said Ildirim, at the ‘And the wretched king, who had/| close of his story, ‘‘ yet have I yielded bared his right wrist as he gave pas-|to the entreaties of my well-beloved, sionate and vehement utterance tothese | and imparted my tremendous secret to last broken sentences, fell all quivering | thee, who art a Christian. But Alme- and trembling at the. feet of his young| ria assures me that thou art wiser than and lovely wife, from whose lips had} most of thy fellow-men, and that thou burst a wild and thrilling cry as her| art acquainted with many things not startled glance recoiled from her hus-|commonly known to the world. IH, band’s arm. Foron that arm there was | therefore, thou canst assist us, reverend a deep black mark, circling the wrist, | father, in this cruel difficulty, thy re- and appearing to have been burnt into| ward shall be whatever thou may’st the flesh with red hot iron; and this/ claim and I can grant.” was the sign which Satan had imprint-| ‘+ «Though thou art a Mahometan, O ed there, to show that the compact was | king,” replied Heraclius, ‘“‘ yet dost a stern reality and not an idladream! |thou worship one God; and therein ‘Oh! how can I find words to depict | thou resemblest the Christian; and the the anguish and despair into which the | God of the one is the God of the other. youthful king and his still younger | To this Almighty Being, then, must we queen were thrown, when these over-| address ourselves for aid and succour,” whelming convictions burst upon them? | continued the old man solemnly, “ and Down—down to the very earth were} He will not desert us.” they crushed, that handsome young ‘Having thus spoken, Heraclius knelt man and that lovely descendant of a| down and prayed aloud. The king and race of houris!—their hands were | queen likewise feli upon their knees— clenched—the cold perspiration stood | and prayed with him; and at the expi- upon their brows ; and their breath was| ration of half an hour they arose, com- now held tightly as if screams were | forted in spirit. passing behind. There was a long—a| + Our intercessions have not proved dead—an appalling silence, during which | unavailing,” said the pious Armenian their looks were averted from each| priest, after a long pause, and now other; then their gaze, full of unima-| speaking with even 2 more solemn seri- ginable horror, met; and, bursting into ‘ousness than before; ‘for it appears as an agony of tears, they fell into each|if a secret and mysterious inspiration other’s arms. | prompts me what counsel to give and ‘But I must draw a veil over this por- how the awful calamity can be avert- tion of my narrative ; indeed, no words | ed.”’ can do justice to it. Suffice ittosay| ‘The young king and the still more that several hours passed. during which | youthful queen took the ola man’s | comicbooks.com ame soe —_" BP af . a -- >? we —~ Tey x > ————— a. - ed” & > : ~ ~~ 4 » _. * 7 * a) re =e + ‘ A, oy - -_ >. _- ~ ¢ Pats es iM: «2 2k Aa ‘ Pat ah Sn ae eis cre" = Zz = ’ 14> __— — eT a. * » ow * : Ping om hy