The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 305: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. brooding over his misfortunes; and at| last he resolved to hasten and consult) Fathur Heracles. ‘To the reverend priest’s chamber did he accordingly repair; and re ing no answer when he knocked, he opened the door. Almighty God!— what a spectacle met his view. Ther —upon the floor of that room—lay the corpse of | feracles—the murdered, mu- tilated, disfigured corpse of the baron’s best friend! Talk of brains’ reeling, sensations becoming maddening, an- guish rending the heart in twain, and nerves and fibres wrung to a degree ot excruciating tension; but all figures of speech will not convey an adequate idea of the transcendent mis- ery which now seized upon the baron, as vultures fasten on their prey. All the pains of hell shot through his-fram —physical pains of goading poignancy which made him writhe like a stricken | snake, and which received their im-/| pulse from the torture that pervaded | his whole moral being. memory rushed the mysterious w which the Baron of Altendorf given him touching a new and terrible proof of the reality and the power of these e | the secret tribunal; and Ildegardo, therefore, beheld in the murdered priest at his feet, an unfortunate victim to the ferocious vengeance of the bronze Statue ! ‘Ferocious indeed! for murder more barbarian in its nature, more savage in its details! Although the deep gaping wound which a poinard had inflicted in the neck, must have caused instantaneous death, yet had the ‘corpse been hacked and hewed as if a fiendish delight had revelled in the bloody work. dent—appallingly evident to the Baron of Ildegardo, that not only would the vo- taries of the Bronze Statue invade the privacy of the dwelling and penetrate into the interior of the well-guarded stronghold to accomplish their vindic- tive purposes, but that the punishments which they inflicted were signalised with an atrocity only too well calculated to strike terror into even the very strongest minds.’ never —_—— CelVv- | and this recollection which once more For, to his’ arning ‘thought that Emilia was not in a condi- had| tion to endure the slightest alarm.— ‘der the necessity of avowing all the de- ' was | Thus did it become evi-| 303 CHAPTER LXXYV, CONTINUATION OF BERNARD’S HISTORY. ‘Many minutes must have elapsed ere the Baron of Iidegardo could so far recover himself as to fix his attention upon the awful embarrassment in which he was now placed. What should he do? how was he to act f His first 1m- pulse, on regaining the cuidance of his hewildered ideas, was to rush forth— summon his household—proclaim the dinbolical deed—denounce the Baron of Altendorf or his servitors as the assas- sins, and call upon his vassals to fly to arms and the massacre of the venerable old priest. But then came the remembrance of that hideous threat which the baron had uttered, and the dread significancy of which had made Ilderardo fall forward beneath the weight of an overwhelming horror,— avenge aused the blood to curdle in his veins, instantaneously followed by the Cc was * . “see pS , d . . >. i ; Moreover, to denouuce the Baron of Altendorf would be to place himself un- wl es * ee "> we — Pi * : ’ iw 2 ’ i ~~ tails of this fatal compact whereby his frst-born was doomed to the service of the Bronze Statue, for without such an full and complete explanation the world would naturally ask what inducement or motive the powerful Lord of Alten- dorf could possibly have in taking the life of a harmless and good old man. Ii, therefore, [ldegardo were to proclaim ‘the murder and withhold the explana- ‘tion alluded to, suspicion would instan- taneously fall upon himself; and not only would all Bohemia execrate him as a savage assassin, but his own vassals ‘would take up arms against him to avenge the cruel immolation of a pious ‘old man whom everybody revered, ‘esteemed, and loved. : . < oe A i 7 s . . 4 ?-F > ‘ = — | * Having thus communed with him- ‘self. the wretched Ildegardo came to ‘the conclusion that it was imperiously /necessary to conceal the horrid catas- ‘trophe, and invent some feasible tale to ‘account for the disappearance of the priest. Locking the door of the cham- ber, therefore, and securing the key about his person, the baron returred to his own apartment; and so soon as he had sufficiently composed his counte- nance and stifled his feelings to enable him to appear in his wife’s presence, he hastened thither to rehold his new- \ comicbooks.com