The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 226: what you’re looking at

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

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But the still more awful cry of ‘ Murder!’ ringing through the establishment, and breaking thus ter- ribly upon the dead silence of the night, soon made the menials aware of the truth ; and as Gloria continued to accuse herself, those who flocked around her had no alternative but to consider her as the guilty person. ‘Thus amidst mingl- ed execrations, cries of amazement, and ejaculations of horror, she was hurried along to her own chamber, which was to be guarded as a prison until the au- thorities in the adjacent town could be informed of the incident, and suammon- ed to dispose of the self-accused mur- deress. But who can describe the feelings which Linda and Beatrice experienced, when, summoned from their own apart- ment to attend upon their mistress in her chamber, they heard from the land- lady the horrible intelligence which harrowed their very souls and curdled the blood in their veins. ‘hen, the first shock being over, they refused to put faith in such a hideous accusation against their beloved mistress; but when they hastened into her presence and received from her own self-accus- ing lips the dread confirmation of the tremendous tidings, the two maidens abandoned themselves to a grief which Gloria experienced no small difficulty in appeasing. In the meantime the landlord had rushed to the door of Sir Ernest de Colmar’s chamber; and with a view to prevent his guest from attributing the disturbance in the house to any wrong cause, the worthy host hastily explained in a few broken and excited sentences the circumstances which had just taken place. Then, without waiting for any reply, he hurried away to repeat the proceeding at the door of Angela’s apartment; and, having thus far eased his mind, the landlord despatched a messenger to the market-town to make the proper communication to the local authorities. He then stationed one of his men under the windows of Gloria’s chamber, in order to prevent her es- ' THE BRONZE STATUE. | cape in that quarter, should she make the endeavor; and another of his male dependants was ordered to enact the part of sentinel in the passage whence the apartment of the murderess opened, Thus, between the hours of one and two on this memorable morning, the usually peaceful inn was thrown into the utmost confusion, bustle, and ex-— citement; and neither landlord, land-— lady, nor menials thought of returnin to the beds from which they had beep aroused under such startling circum- | stances. Sir Ernest de Colmar was most pain-— fully excited by the events of this un- happy night; had made to him that communication which he had every minute been ex- pecting with feverish suspense for the previous half hour, he continued to pace his chamber in an agitated man- ~ ner, wondering what would be theissus __ of the awful drama that had opened — with so frightful a tragedy, and deplor- _ ing the fate which had connected his ~~ own career with the apparently doomed existence of Gloria. For it assuredly struck him that the Enemy of Mankind, in decreeing his separationfrom the Daughter of Satan, had foreseen and perhaps pre-arranged all the troubles and embarrassments which were to re- sult from his compulsory association with the Daughter of Glory. And then the knight shuddered from head to foot and felt a strange and horrible sinking at the heart, as the reflection was forced upon his mind that on the memcrable night when he espoused the cause of Satanais against the Prince of Dark- ness, he to a certain extent placed him- self under that evil influence; and he experienced an appalling dread as he thought that this same influence had already begun, secretly, silently, and almost imperceptibly to wind its coils around him, and would perhaps con- tinue thus to enmesh him in its insidi- ous snares, so as gradually to carry him on amidst perils, annoyances, and vexa- tions, until his utter destruction should prove the crowning catastrophe. But we must leave the Austrian knight to his mournful reflections, in order to glance at the effect which the intelligence of the murder produced upon Angela Wildon. . This lovely maiden, on retiring to her own apartment in the evening, had par- . taken of some slight refreshment; and then, carefully securing the door, she had laid aside her armor and sought her. = comicbooks.com and after the landlord — y.