The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 155: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. both easy and safe to allow horses to enter the water to drink. The party accordingly halted for this purpose, and turning a little aside from the main road, the priest, the armed men, and the two pages, rode their steeds down the bank into the stream. But suddenly the Carthusian’s horse shied and gave unequivocal proofs of fear, and the priest would have been thrown into the river were he not an excellent horseman. His companions looked around for the cause of the ani- mal’s alarm, and their eyes fell upon the corpse of a female, which was lying amongst some weeds in the shade of an overhanging bush. The pages instantaneously averted their heads’ in disgust; the priest also reined back his horse—but the armed ruffians, familiar with death in all its ghastliest and most grisly shapes, rode towards the spot where the body lay. All on a sudden an ejaculation of min- gled amazement and horror burst from the lips of the foremost; and, springing from his steed, he unhesitatingly drew the corpse upon the bank. His com- panions, meanwhile, recognised it also, and the exclamation, ‘ It is Dame Mar- tha |’ reached the ears of the Carthusian and the pages. Father Cyprian immediately dis- mounted, fastened his horse to a tree, and hastened to view the corpse. It was comparatively fresh, and the fea- tures were easily to be recognised, al- though the countenance was somewhat swollen and livid. But if there were any uncertainty in the matter, the wo- man’s attire placed her identity beyond a doubt; and the Carthusian, over- whelmed with amazement, ejaculated, ‘It is indeed Dame Martha!’ Some unaccountable feeling of curi- osity at that moment prompted the two pages to cast their looks upon the corpse, and they at once recognised the old wo- man who had first introduced them to the unknown mansion, their revisit to which threatened to cost them so dearly. ‘Could this be an accident? was the poor creature drowned ?’ exclaimed Fa- ther Cyprian, speaking aloud, although in a musing manner ; then recalling his recollections, he said, ‘ It was but a few hours previous to the incident which made these dangerous youths my pri- soners, that I saw Dame Martha at the hostel near the heath.’ ‘By heaven! she hath been foully dealt with,’ cried the armed man who 153 had dragged the corpse ashore; and, stooping down, he drew forth the po- niard which had remained in the breast, where it was plunged to the very hilt. Father Cyprian mechanically took the dagger from his hand; but as he examin- ed the flexible blade, and the elegantly worked silver hilt, his countenance sud- denly changed, and an expression of ex- treme uneasiness passed over it. Then he reflected profoundly for upwards of a minute, and at length starting abrupt- ly from his reverie, he secured the po- niard beneath his gown. Meantime the four armed men gazed upon him with deep interest and cu- riosity ; but be it well understood that during the entire progress of this scene on the bank of the Moldau, the two pages had been watched in such a man- ner that they had no chance of effecting an escape by galloping away suddenly ; and the ropes fastened to their ankles, and passing beneath their horses’ bellies, prevented them from leaping off and trusting to the agility of their limbs. ‘This occurrence,’ said the Carthu- sian, after along pause—and as he spoke he glanced towards the corpse, thereby intimating that he alluded to the murder of Dame Martha—‘ this occurrence somewhat changes my plans. I must return without delay to Prague, for if the renegade and perjured Sister Ma- rietta be assuming the offensive, our friends in the neighborhood may be en- dangered. Continue ye your journey, therefore, my faithful friends,’ added the priest, casting his eyes upon the four armed men consecutively; ‘and let everything be accomplished precisely as if | were present to see it done.’ He spoke these last words with a sig- nificancy to which his myrmidons re- sponded by means of looks, that showed how fully they comprehended him, and how zealous they were to perform his behest; and this dumb show on their part failed not to strike the youths with its ominous expression. Father Cyprian was about to remount his horse, when Lionel hastily exclaim- ed, ‘May it please your reverence to grant me a few moments’ private con- versation 2’ ‘To what effect, boy 2?’ demanded the Carthusian ina cold tone, as he eyed the page suspiciously and sternly. ‘If 1 choose to speak aloud whatever I may have to say,’ responded the youth, ‘IT should not have solicited an audience apart from the rest,’ and he glanced to- wards his armed custodians. comicbooks.com Set 7+ ¥ 5 t i { | , |