The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 271: what you’re looking at

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

‘To fear what, my well-beloved Er- nest?’ said Satanais, perceiving that he hesitated ; and, as she spoke, she laid her hand lightly upon his shoulder. ‘ What apprehension is it that you en- tertain concerning that armed warrior Y ‘I fear that he is either a prey to some secret grief, or that his intellect wanders aft, times,’ answered De UCol- mar, taking the hand of Satanais and leading her slowly back into the hostel. ‘Perhaps he cherishes a hopeless love for I remember that he confessed to me, the evening before last, that he was enamored of acertain Angela Wil- don, who, by the bye, is well known to your unhappy sister, Gloria.’ ‘Poor youth ?’ murmured Satanais, with a sigh. ‘Ah! you possess a heart which is alike generous and tender, my well-be- | loved,’ whispered Sir Ernest de Col- | mar; ‘and you can pity the woes of a fellow-creature. Deeply am I indebted to the gallant youth who has just quit | ted us in a manner as abrupt as it is un- accountable; and [ would that an op- portunity might serve of testifying my gratitude for the services he rendered me in a very pressing emergency. but the time may come when I shall meet him again, and when he will reveal to me his name and his motives for having | concealed it‘from me.’ Thus discoursing, the knight and the dark houri entered the hostel together; | and having partaken of the repast which | was prepared for them, they rose from the table to proceed on their journey. Satanais possessed a jet black palirey ; and when mounted upon the graceful animal, which curvetted and pranced as if with a feeling of pride on account of the lovely burthen which it bore, the superb beauty of the Daughter of Sa- | ) /bosom—the partner of his rank, his tan was set off to its greatest advantage. Nothing could excel, and scarcely equal, the symmetry of her shape and the elegance of her carriage, as her form, so flexible and elastic, yielded with a sort of wavy, undulating motion, like that of a swan’s neck, to every movement of her steed. Her arms, naked almost to the shoulder, and ap- pearing in the olive richness of the skin as if they were delicately bronzed, were gracefully rounded—one, as the hand held the reins—the other, as it hung negligently by herside. And that same bright bronze tint of the complexion showed amidst the ribands which were. wound cross-wise up the legs; yes, and it was this same rich olive hue which THE BRONZE STATUE. ——— 269 the well-rounded bosom, the admirably- shaped shoulders, and the splendid throat displayed, and which me into a fine carnation upon the cheeks, but softened almost into purity of pale- ness upon the broad and noble forehead. 'In a word, impossible were it by any ‘power of language to do justice to the ‘richness of that dark complexion which tinted a skin of velvet softness, but co- vering flesh of the healthiest firmness ; and impossible also were it to find terms slowing and fervid enough to depict all ‘the splendor of that form whose pro- portions and contours were so advan- tageously and voluptuously profiled by the equestrian attitude of the Daughter of Satan. Sir Ernest de Colmar was ravished by her appearance. Every time he be- held her, it seemed that he discovered new personal graces and fresh charms; ‘and so complete was the fascinating in- fluence which this romantic being had shed around her lover—so deep was the mystic spell which held his heart in ec- static thraldom—and so ineffably melt- ing and tender were the emotions which her mere presence, apart from her looks and her words, had excited in his soul, that he felt he could cheer- fully resign all the pride and power of his position amongst the denizens ‘of earth, and retire to the seclusion of 'some place afar from the busy haunts ‘of men, there to languish out the re- mainder of his existence in the arms of | Satanais ! And then again, as he contemplated the dark houri who rode by his side, he thought within himself how proudly his | heart would beat when the time should ‘come for him to present that woman of 'matchless beauty to his friends—pre- sent her as his bride—the wife of his . Ce fortune, his power, and his glory! Yes —and with what feelings of pleasure should he spread before her the richest 'gems and the costliest garments, and ‘bid her deck her form in a manner that |should develop and irradiate those beau- ‘ties which no art could, however, en- hauce! Moreover, how ecstatic would ‘be his feelings and how elevated his | pride, when he could take by the hand ‘that superb creature thus grandly ar- | rayed, and conduct her amidst the glit- | tering company assembled in halls bril- liantly lighted—while she, with her eyes shedding a lustre far excelling ‘that of the crystal lamps suspended ‘around, and eclipsing even the jets of comicbooks.com