The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 392: what you’re looking at

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

390 THE BRONZE STATUE. her head : both did her fair white hands wators of the Bronze Statue were over- 4 be loosen and let go in a moment—and, | powered by the Taborite soldiers, Zitzka ) th with the rich masses of shining hair} was delivered from the peril wherein : ft nef floating over her alabaster shoulders, it| he had been temporarily placed—and ; o ah was the brilliant Gloria Ildegardo who} Gloria was protected from those who st Buu thus burst upon the view of her uncle | might have been inclined to wreak a C aaa the Captain-Weneral. and the band of} bloody vengeance upon her for the Car- bei catty armed. bravoa. | | | thusian’s death. ho ! ide ty 4 But before even the ejaculation of sur- And 1D the mean time the accursed Gi ak Sen prise which fell from many a lip had mechanism had done its diabolical work: 4 Yall ee ceased 10 vibrate in the air,—with a ra- | pierced by a thousand wounds, blinded, . _ @ Shiro pidity as wondrous and as fated as the|and bleeding all over, the miserable | « eae lightning-flash that darts down from the | wretch had gone through the trap door, - f. Wy cloud and strikes the forest-tree,—did | down upon the mighty cylinders brist- am 3! hy Gloria spring towards the Bronze Statue. | ling with the ghastly blades; and then tb At that moment the Carthusian. priest | round, and round, and round had re- da was in the act of withdrawing his head | volved those tremendous wheels—hack- | de from the contemplation of the interior | ing, hewing, and mincing the victim to } of the colossal image; but even as his | pieces. until the streamlet beneath bore | , i upturning countenance enabled him to | away the last traces of the appalling te catch a glimpse of Gloria’s flushed and | tragedy. 8 infuriate features, with her large black al eyes shining like portentous meteors,— 4 even at that very. same instant, we say, i; did she hur! him forward, with a strength CHAPTER XCYVI. a j4hat was irresistible. , at It was all the work of a moment! In- RETRIBUTION. tf g" to the interior of the Bronze Statue was h the wretched Carthusian precipitated ; Wituuin an hour from the occurrence h —the two bravos standing near, fell | ofthe startling scene just related, mani- back in horror and dismay—-and the| fold were the changes which had taken arms of the colossal image folding again, place within the walls of Altendorf d ne the doors closed at the same time upon | Castle. r Father Cyprian, the beginning of whose ‘I'he banner of the insurgent aristoc- 0 | mortal agonies was already announced racy was lowered from the tall staff on h ; by the deatening yells which, borrow- | the huge central tower; and the stand- @ MY, ing a metallic sound from the image | ard of the Taborites waved inthe moon- " cite whence they came so piercingly, vibra- light in its stead. Vast quantities of f : ted through the hall. provisions had been fetched from the i fit The paralysis of consternation seized | encampment of the brave and victorious . q At upon all save Gloria herself; and she, | Reformers; and the famine-stricken in- | | ae turning towards the assemblage, exten- | mates of the strong hold had recruited t ing ded her snow-white arm with the air | their strength with a copious meal. A § Why sta of a Pythoness, exclaiming, ‘ Thus per-|'Tuborite garrison was already estab- ¥ ; ashes the vile hypocrite who despoiled me | lished in the castle, the late defenders ‘48 hal of my virtue !” at which were now held as captives.— ie. bak Scarcely were these words uttered, |The nobles who had headed the insur- re tae ‘when there was a rush of many heavy | rection against Zitzka’s government at footsteps in the passage communicating | were all collected in one large apart- Aa with the workshop; and the chamber) ment, sentinels being placed at the : ain of the Bronze Statue was instantane- | doors: the wives, daughters, and other he i} soldiers. were gathered in an adjoining chamber, FW: For the sentinel in the little chapel, | which was likewise guarded. Rf finding that the half bour was passed, Lhe members of the Brotherhood, and that Zitzka did not return, had obeyed the instructions given to him, and had sent the force which now ar- cently occupied, and where many of rived so timeously. them had dwelt for years and years; Then, while the Carthusian priest | and they were now all congregated in was meeting that death which, horrible | the handsomest saloon in the castle. though it were, was but the doom of a Gloria—the beauteous Gloria, was a just retribution after all, the armed ser- | prisoner in a chamber to which she had x male and female, had quitted the sub- terranean rooms which they had so re- _* “+ . try 2 Le Pee Se |. eee a. - ee - . =< «@ ahora -« ere? - =? wee 7. ously inundated with a host of Taborite | female relatives of these rebel-peers | | _ comicbooks.com