The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 273: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. the forlorn aspect of the scene. as the fire had melted all the glass from the windows and there were numerous breaches and fissures in the walls, the eye could look every portion of the ruined structure through and through. | Thus was it easy to trace the position of the grand halls and the spacious sa- loons which had at once echoed to the sounds of festivity and rejoicing,—easy | also to follow the track of the long pas- sages and galleries which separated the | suites of apartments and led from one} division of the building to another; and the more minutely these details were examined by the visitor to this assem blage of ruins, the deeper became his sense of the grandeur, strength, and importance which must have character- ‘sed so vast a feudal tenement in the days of its glory. Land in hand did Sir Ernest de Col- ruins, the knight carefully selecting for his beauteous companion tl pathway that ibeen of oak elaborately 271 And} For when she assured him, in fervid | } language and with glowing looks, that she was neither indisposed nor unhap- py, he was only too eager, in his en- thusiastic fondness, to believe that she was as free from bodily or mental aii- ment as she represented ; and to his eye at least her lustrous regards and her enchanting smiles absorbed every appearance of gloom or pre-occupation. Thus when the surface of a river glows with the effulgence of the sun, the eye of man, dazzled and bewildered, vainly 'seeks to plunge into the depths of the stream. pellucid ane fathomable to the 'view though the waters may really be. Having entered the ruins by a breach in the outer wall, De Colmar and Sata- nuis crossed a small court-yard, and then passed into the nearest building, 'A deep archway, in which a fragment | of the once massive door still clung to & ‘ ° » h mar and Satanais pass on amidst the! ‘eular vestibule. the roof of which had rusty hinge, admitted them into a cir- oroined; and was least encumbered by the scattered | froin this place the blackened remnants fragments or menaced by the overhang- ing masonry. of tall folding-doors led into a vast hall, the windows of which were divided But strange was the mood of Sata-| into several lights by mullions, or slen- nais! A kind of reverential awe had|der perpendicular columns, branching seized upou her the very instant that out ut the top into sculptured tracery of she first set foot within the circuit of | various forms. Kragments of furniture those mouldering walls; and sho walked | were rotting upon the stone pavement, with asolemn air anda slow pace amidst ‘where the grass grew; and in some the maze of ruins which the hand of| places the floor was piled with the por- desolution had made. she hesitated, paused, and even stopped | short, as if repenting the sudden caprice or endeavoring to struggle against the owerful impulse (which ever it might be) that had led her to propose in the frst instance a visit to this dilapidated castle. Then De Colmar, with the ten- derest solicitude, would inquire if she were attacked by indisposition ; and Sa- tanais. either ashamed or afraid to ac- knowledge her superstitious desire that they should retrace their steps and quit the scene, subdued her feelings with a great effort and responded with re-as- surances as cheering as she could pos- sibly render them. But although she would then essay to continue the dis- course in a gay tone and to assume an air pertectly unrestrained and free from embarrassment. yet in reality her mind | Once or twice| tious of the roof that had fallen in. Beyond this hall, which had evidently | . served as the grand banquetting-room, ithere was a gallery from each side of l'which a staircase ascended. One of ‘the flights had completely fallen in; ‘and upon looking upwards, the eye could penetrate into the skeletons of | several chambers which conflagration —EE remained disturbed, her cheerfulness | was forced, her spirits were unnatur- | : ally buoyant, and a heavy load lay upon } » & any and ruin had thus laid mournfully bare. Stripped of the splendid decorations and despoiled of the costly furniture which once belonged to them, present- ing to the view little more than black- ened walls, empty windows, burnt ratt- and half-charred beams,-—those chambers told the file of war in all its ghastly horror: he other staircase to which we have alluded was still stunding, though bro- ken in many places and almost choked up with the fragments of fallen mason- ry. Nevertheless De Colmar led Sa- tanais up this flight, and they entered Nery, with a wal! on ers, A iong ga -_~ purtilion . : . - . | - ‘ . : : - ° ‘The fail extent oO} this singular and one side. but numerous door-ways com- - . ™ - . ; . . . 5 | moody condition of her soul, Sir Ernest | municating with apartments on the otn- de Colmar did not However perceive, | er. At the th LOp of the staircase comicbooks.com . Te a. pi ee Ae » ~*~, a > ‘ ‘. on ‘nd, “at 9 - 4 «. ° pill, A ~ ANA et EAS « a ra — ou oe : alee * a9 > ow d b a * ; i - - ue AU Ge yee Dt > : >