The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 117: what you’re looking at

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

WU THE BRONZE, STATUE. ‘«+] dare say anything that suits my purpose,’”’ rejoined Kara Ali, there is the ghastly witness that will confirm the charge !’’ he added, point- Ing significantly towards the sack. r ¥ . } > > ‘The wretched Ildirim was accord- ingly compelled to yield to the demands of the man whom accident had thus enabled to dictate his own terms. ‘The compact was entered into; and the monarch gave his signet-ring as a pledge that the conditions should be fulfilled on his side. ‘The corpse of the Armenian priest was then consigned to the river; and Ildirim returned to his palace, where he passed several hours in effue- ing the stains of blood from the floor of the apartment where the dreadful tra- gedy had occurred. At length Sought his couch, worn out in mind and body, and shudderingly averting his eyes from the contemplation of the. fu- ture as he thought of the terrible past and the equally alarming present. | ‘sand | should grow up to woman’s estate. only means.ot mv rescue. he | ied away. ‘In the forenoon of the following day | bestowed upon myself; and thatof Glo- the king held a grand court:,and_ pro- clamation was made throughout the city that a general pardon was decreed to all defenders then in confinement, and an amnesty granted to all persons| then in exile on account of political, This intelligence. produced | scendantly beautiful; but the loveliness misdeeds. the liveliest joy ; but the feelings was suddenly changed into one of mingled consternation and dismay when the news. spread abroad that Kara Ali had appeared at court and was received with high favor by the king. The ex- Minister’s mansion and treasures, which had been confiscated, were restored to’ him; and a rumor spread abroad that there was every prospect of his being raised, again to power. The excite- ment that prevailed was therefore great; | | | 115 onthe day when she becamea mother: and she thus learnt that the infancy and girlhood of myself-were likely to remain unmolested by the Evil One, and that , there was a hope of. emancipating me altogether from his influence, when I Re- specting Heraclius, my father assured iis confiding wife that the venerable priest had undertaken a pilgrimage: to Jerusalem, in order to meve heaven by is prayers to frustrate the designs. of Satan altogether, and accomplish the salvation of myself without the centin- gent fulfilment of the condition stipulat: ed by the Enemy of Mankind, as. the These ex- pianations satisfied my mother; and she was too much engrossed with her babes to devote any attention to the state of public feeling which was agitating: so menacingly without. ‘l'lme wore on, and three years pass- The name of Satanais, asi] have already informed. you, had been rid was given to my sister, as typical of the service of heaven to which she had beén devoted, even before her birth, And now the truthfulness of Satan’s prophecy began to develope itself: for beautiful indeed were we both—oh! tran- of Gloria was of heavin’s own radiant beings, whereas that of myself was of the dark splendor of the fallen angels /— Think not, however, that any idle senti- ment of vanity has induced me to asso- clate an idea of beauty with these occa- sional allusions to myself; impute not to me so unworthy a motive. No, far from it! Itis the nature of ‘my narra- ‘tive which compels me thus to deal but large sums of money were distri-| | no merit on my part that [ am beauti- buted amongst the royal guards, and every precaution was adopted to meet any emergency. A few days elapsed, at the expiration of which the worst with facts that so nearly and intimately concern my doom, my destiny ; for it.is: ful—no virtue deserving commendation that [ am endowed with personal attrac- fears of the people were confirmed; | for the good Ministers were dismissed ! suddenly, and Kara Ali and his friends | were restored to office. Some distur- bances ensued in the capital; but the troops mowed down the insurgents with amerciless fury ; and, alas! the tyran- / ny of my father was- cemented by his_ ' watched the growth of her cherished subjects’ blood. ‘In the meantime he had soothed AI- meria’s mind by a variety of represen- tations, some true and some false. explained to her the particulars of his i He | interview with the Prince of Darkness’ tions. Alas! alas! ’tis a loveliness which may yet become a fatal instru- ment in the hands of Satan, despite all my endeavors tothe contrary ; and thus ‘is this beauty a curse rather than a bles- | sing a reproach rather than a source of pride or joy! ‘Need I tell you how anxiously, how tenderly, how devotedly, our mother twins, and marked the development of their contrasting styles of beauty? Nevertheless, it was only in the color of our hair and the hue of our complexs ions, that Gloria and inyself were so un- comicbooks.com —