The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

+» THE BRONZE STATUE. 89 sive bolt which held it was drawn back | down,—yes, knelt there, upon the humid by her taper fingers : she thrust it open | pavement, and, placing the lamp by her —and another flight of steps appeared. | side, joined her hands and moved her Bracing herself with all the courage | lips in fervent prayer. which her strong intellect and vigorous| And as she raised her eyes towards mind could not fail to supply in order | the stupendous ,statue, the light of the to ennble her to meet the circumstances | lamp playing quiveringly upon its fea- of her position, Angela descended this | tures, gave them the appearance of smil- second flight of stone stairs ; and at the | ‘moment her mind was too profoundly bottom she found the arched entrance of another vaulted corridor. Along this ; ing sweetly on the maiden; and at the enthralled by a superstitious feeling na- passage she proceeded until it brought | tural enough in her position, to enable her into a small room, quite round and | her to pause and reflect, that those with a vaulted roof, so that it at first | Smiles were but the delusion of her looked like the interior of a dome ; but | Senses. a second glance at its massive appear-| ‘She therefore continued to pray aloud ance and rugged surface made it seem | With a fervor all the more profound; more like a eavern hollowed in a solid | and, rising at length from her supplant rock. It was, however, built of mighty granite blocks, as well as the passages leading to it; and, had ten tho sand cannon been fired from the towers of the Castle. or the roar of heaven’s loud- est thunder rent the air, still would those thick stone walls have beat back all sounds from without, so that not even the faintest echo would have responded from within! The maiden paused for a few mo- ments in this circular chamber; and kneeling upon a granite hassock in front of a crucifix standing in a high but nar- row recess, she prayed fervently that heaven would grant a safe issue to her undertaking. Then, rising from the rude foot-stool, she opened a door facing the entrance from the long vaulted pas- sage which had led her hither. She now entered an apartment so spacious that the lamp shone like a fee- ble will-o’-the-wisp in the midst of the surrounding obscurity. Holding it, therefore, high up in order to obtain a better view of the place, she advanced slowly over the damp and slimy pave- ment,—a strange, vague, and uwunac- countable feeling of superstitious awe gained upon her at every step which ' she took. Suddenly the rays of the lamp ap- peared to be reflected in something bright which stood out from amidst the deep darkness prevailing at the farther extremity of the room ; and, piously in- voking heaven's aid, Angela arew nearer and nearer to the object, which as gra- dually grew more definite and distinct, until its shining outlines took the form of a colossal figure of the Virgin! Then, yielding to the ineffable emo- tions of awe, and wonderment, and ve- neration which now asserted a complete empire over her soul, the maiden knelt posture, she took up the lamp and drew nearer still to the Bronze Statue. But—O horror !—slowly and spectral- like, as if issuing from the depths of a sepulchre, a figure, apparently clad in the garments of the grave, emerged from behind the image; and to the ap- palled imagination of the maiden its countenance was that of a corpse, and its eyes had the stony glare of the dead. For a moment Angela stood transfixed and stiffened with an indescribable hor- ror; then, as the apparition began to move slowly towards her, making some sign which the palsy of her brain pre- vented her from understanding, the maiden gave vent to a wild cry, and sank senseless upon the humid floor. CHAPTER XXIV. THE WHITE LADY. Wuen Angela awoke to conscious- ness, she found herself seated upon a rude chair in an apartment she could not immediately scan in detail: for as the blood came back to her veins, ter- ror revived in her soul; and, while signs of resuscitating breath and re- turning knowledge broke from her lips, her looks swept round with shuddering furtiveness, lest they should encounter the ghastly apparition whose image floated uppermost in her mind. But nothing terrible met her gaze: and closing her eyes, she threw herself back in the seat to give way to her re- flections. It appeared to her as if she had awa- kened from some hideous dream in which the dread phantoms of the ideal world had sprung up to appal her: but comicbooks.com OSI ecm, ket = een ee . “ ‘S * s ee Se a pt et a <p BAe TE