The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 32: what you’re looking at

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

* : > 7 ~~ * ————— = — =, — ——_— =e - > = a — — _— « . I mp ed . kd i. : Fe » ~~ . . SBE 2 ae A) Cee ee. ee, eS a ee : a x . = ’ A cediinen ae . ay ae eee ~— — ee PAA ge * A ’ > = ° . *: . . = ae - ~ ; 4 CAIRO LA MMS IE Tn Oe SR ~ - : . eo oe. ..... 2 tad. Ot en ge oe = — » — - p 30 THE BRONZE STATUE. the luxuriant masses of rich, silky auburn the mystic ceremonies in the chnrch, and hair flowing partly over him—her face so | thence to form the conjecture that she had near his own that they almost touched, and | either been rescued or borne away by the her fragrant breath, which every moment | individual in whose arms she found herself came more easily, fanning his cheek. He | supported. , : 2 could seareely believe that all this was a ‘ Fear nothing, lady—I am a friend ! reality ; it appeared a wild and impossible whispered Sir Ernest de Colmar, as the dream. [fad any one whispered in his ear | moonbeams were reflected in the brighter at the frst moment when Gloria removed | and more lustrous orbs that now unclosed her veil before the altar, and burst upon his | upon hia. : dazzled view in all the transcendentsplen-| ‘* Thanks—a thousand thanks for this as- dour of her overwhelming charms—had |surance,’ returned the lady, gently rising any body, we say, whispered to him then | from her half-reclining position in his arms,. that within an hour this bright and sunny | and seating herself by his side: then, lay- creature would repose in his arms—that his | ing her fair hand lightly upon his wrist, hand should play with the rich shining |and bending towards him with an artless tresses that had appeared so gorgeous in| air of familiar trustfulness and ingenuous the light, and on which a subdued lustre | confidence, she said, ‘] know who you or darkened gloss even now rested in the | are ee sombre shade of the wood—had any one| ‘ You know me!’ answered the Knight, told him all this, he would have ridiculed | with a start of strange abruptness. the idea as something beyond the possibi-| ‘ Yes,’ she replied, an arch smile for a lity of human realization. moment wreathing her bright red lips: ‘you And vet the whole had taken place|are Sir Ernest de Colmar. 1 saw you— within the last few minutes; and there, in|though I myself was uneeen—during the the depths of the wood, surrounded by the | whole time you were conversing 1n the umbrageous foliage through which the|evening with the Captain-General and moonbeams penetrated like many silver | with Satanias.’ threads, and with the limpid stream mur- ‘And who is that Satanais?—and who muring musically at his feet—there was | are you, bright and beautiful creature 2" ex- Sir Ernest de Colmar alone with that Child | claimed the warrior, in a tone of entliust- of Light—that Daughter of Glory! asim. But not an impure nor unchaste thought| Satanais is my sister, answered Gloria, entered the mind of that generous warrior|in a voice which was low, tremulous, and as he sustained the angelic creature in his | slightly embarrassed. arins: his soul was absorbed in a holy inte-| ‘{ thought so!—I was convinced that rest—an ineffable admiration—a species Of | snch must be the case" said Sir Ernest.— worship too esthetic and too full of a real|+ For even as Day and Night, although so poetic sentiment to allow the intermixture | different, spring from the same parent—- of a single particle of earthly grossness. Time—so may the sunny radiance of your For, oh! he might have pressed those | joyeliness and the dark splendor of your scarlet lips and drunk in their honied mois- | sister’s beauty have owned the same origin ture—he might have covered that spotless | aye, and even atwin-birth.’ forehead and each damask cheek with his ‘Yeo—we are twine’ observed Gloxis, caresses—he might have strained the fine in a tone of increasing melancholy: andit form to his bosom, instead of sustaining it instantly struck the Knight that she sor- aple a. Teserved 96 calscale tenderness | rowed as she thought of that deceased mo- his arms: butno! Far aueant from DIS | ther of whom she had spoken with such mind was the thought of taking the slightest | .ontiments of holy devotion in the Church. a ie i ca viigs waa '* But, tell me, generous Austrian,’ she sud- wale Gloria. And if his fingers played oney’ exclaimed—‘tell me the extent of ee : = my obligation to you. From what peril did with the soti silken tresses which flowed * | | you rescue me—and if from no danger over his shoulder and his arm, it was an In- | - 5 nocent and improvised toying, that could | Me gsr then how came 4 here? , not possibly offend, even if perceived, and lo speak the truth, answered De Col- that arose from the exalted admiration and | ™2", ‘1 was present in the Church through- sublime interest which the magic of her | 0U% the strange ceremony in which you per- beauty had engendered in his soul. | formed a principal part.’ We said that nearly a minuteelapsedere; ‘And what circumstance took yon ee ~iiiilL AALLLLLLLLLLL — ee - vGloria opened her eyes again ;—and during | thither?’ demanded Gloria, impatiently,— . & ' that interval she had doubtless collected a!! | while she fixed her superb eyes upon De her scattered thoughts; so that she was|Colmar’s countenance in such a manner enabled to remember the closing scene of! that they seemed to pour a flood of light COMICDOOKS.COIN