The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 291: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. 289 will venture to promise that your lord-|lost in his infancy be ever led back, ship’s addresses will not be rejected by | either by accident or by heaven’s mer- the Lady Emilia, nor viewed with dis-| cy, to the home of his forefathers,— pleasure by Baron Georgey.”’ | then I chorge thee, I say, to sarrender ‘My noble young’ master embraced} unto him the castle and the estates of me when I gave him these assurances ; | Georgey. And-that thou mayst be en- and the very next morning I despatched | abled to guard against the duplicity of a confidential friend to Baron Georgey | impostors, and the frauds of false claim- to pave the way for a formal visit on! ants, it is necessary to inform thee that the part of Lord Ildegardo. My emis-| my lost boy bore the mark of a mulber- sary was favorably received by the ve-| ry on the upper part of his right arm. nerable baron, who frankly declared | The hope that he will ever come back that such an alliance as the one suggest- is nearly extinct within me; for twenty- ed would be well pleasing to him; and| three years have passed since the fatal on the ensuing day my noble master | day on which he was stolen by the gip- proceeded with a splendid retinue to}sies. And yet there are times when a Georgey Castle. His reception was of| species of supernatural presentiment in- the most flattering description ; and he} spires me with the conviction that he found, to his delight, that so far from | yet lives; and in the silence of the night the charms of the Lady Emilia having| it often seems as if some good angel been in any way exaggerated by the ar-| whispered the same in my ears. But tist who painted her portrait, sufficient ‘the result is in the hand of God, who justice had scarcely been done to her}can bring the wanderer home if He transcendent loveliness. On her side, | will. Say, then, Baron of Iidegardo, the young lady was far from displeased | wilt thou swear to act justly and hono- with the handsome person, agreeable | rably towards my son, should he re-ap- manners, and courteous attentions of| pear at any time after my death and the Baron of Ildegardo; and thus the | prove his identity ?” loves of this noble pair commenced un-| ‘ «* Most solemnly do I swear to fulfil der auspices of the most favorable cha-| your injunctions, venerable lord !’ ex- racter. for a few months did the court- | claimed the baron, pressing the old no- ship last, and during that interval my |ble’s hands respectfully to his lips. master was a daily visitor at Georgey| ‘Three days after this conversation Castle. At length he formally demand- | the marriage was celebrated with fitting ed the hand of the Lady Emilia in mar-| splendor. Father Heracles, the vene- riage ; and her father, while signifying | rable chaplain of Georgey Castle, pro- his consent, addressed him in the fol-| nounced the nuptial blessing ; and the lowing manner :— -vassals on both estates celebrated the ‘«« My dear young friend, I give thee | event with rejoicings, festivities, martial my daughter in the full confidence that | games, and grand hunts. thou wilt make her happy; but in thus ‘ Four months elapsed, and at the ex- bestowing my only remaining treasure | piration of that period the beauteous upon thee, | render myself, as it were, | Emilia imparted to her husband the in- childless. Her mother, who hath long|telligence that she found herself in a been a saint in heaven, made. me the! way to become a mother. Obedient to father of six children—one boy and five | the impulse of joy which suddenly seiz- girls. The boy disappeared suddenly | ed upon him, he clasped his lovely when.only two years old; and there is| young wife in his arms, and lavished every reason to believe that he was sto- | upon her the most affectionate caresses en by the wandering Zingarees. Four! but even while he was thus giving and of my daughters have embraced the ser- | receiving those tender kisses, a wither- vice of heaven, and dwell in the seclu-|ing reminiscence flashed across his sion of that convent which I have built| brain as a blight sweeps through the and endowed in the vicinity of my cas-| garden of roses, and all his JOY was blast- tle. ‘he youngest and fairest of my|ed in a moment, as a verdant tree is children I now bestow upon thee; and, | stricken dead by the lightning. But he in the loneliness of my ancestral halls,| had nevertheless sufficient self-com- shall I pass the remnant of my exis-| mand to conceal his agonizing thoughts tence. If my long-lost son should not! from the beauteous Emilia: and hastily be restored to me, then thou wilt be- quitting her presence, he mounted his come the inheritor of my possessions ; | horse and galloped forth into the coun- but I charge thee, as thou valuest thine! try, asif he sought to flee nway from his immortal soul, that should he who was! own thoughts. Unattended did he thus — — — ——— — — = — * comicbooks.com