The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. 107 came upon the ear like the sound of|abruptly seized the king’s right wrist the ocean passing through a Jong vaulted | and held it for a single moment. in hig cavern,—*‘ in a few months hence you| grasp. A single moment !—yes;. but will become a father, and [ shall then| the anguish of whole centuries was return to claim mine own.”’ concentrated therein—and a shriek of ‘++¢Mercy! mercy!” cried the tor-}| mortal agony burst from the maddened tured, anguished, horror-stricken Iidi- | Iidirim: for it seemed as if his wrist rim, writhing as if in mortal agony at| were held ina vice of red hot iron! the feet of the Prince of Darkness. ‘A mocking laugh of infernal tri- +«¢Mercy! Who appeals to me for| umph rang in his ears, and he heard mercy ?’? demanded the arch-fiend, in| and saw no more; for his senses aban- a tone where withering sarcasm, venge- | doned him!’ ful bitterness, and infernal triumph) were awfully commingled. ‘ As well| se. may the wretch who is screaming and. struggling in the coils of a monstrous | CHAPTER XXIX. serpent, implore mercy from the rep-/| tile as it extends its elastic jaws and| CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF protrudes its venomed tongue prepara- | SATANAIS. tory to the enjoyment of its hideous | banquet! As well may the mariner; ‘ Wuewn lIidirim the King awoke ‘to when tossing and battling in the midst} consciousness again, it was with a sud- of the roaring whirlpool of the Mael-|den and convulsive start, as if the re- stroom, beseech the surging billows to| vival of memory and the resuscitation spare him for his wife and children’s} of intelligence were accompanied by a sake and waft him back in safety to his| poignant pang. Wildly he cast around far-off home! As well may the victim | his eyes, with the evideut dread of en- of gross superstition and ecclesiastical | countering some terrible object: but he cruelty, implore his torturers to release | was in a moment reheved of a crushing him from the stake on which he is im-| apprehension when he found himself paled, or from: the pyre which has = reclining in the arms of his lovely Al- gun to lick his writhing limbs with its|meria. Over him bent her angelic tongues of flame! No—miserable| countenance, every feature of which mortal that thou art!—'tis not to me! expressed the deepest, tenderest solici- that ‘thou canst appeal for mercy! The| tude; and the tears that gleamed pearl- compact exists—thine oath is registered | like on her long lashes showed how in hell; and at the moment of its birth, | acutely she must have suffered on find- shall I come to demand thy first-born| ing her worshipped husband stretched child !” 'senseless in thut arbor. But now a ++ Ts it possible!” murmured the al-| smile played on her lips, hike the sun most heart-broken Ildirim, unable to| beams shining forth in the midst of the believe that so appalling a calamity | showers of Spring; and, lavishing the could possibly be in store for him.|tenderest caresses upon Iidirim, she “No, no, I am dreaming—’tis a hide-| besought him to reveal to her the cause wus night-mare—a terrible vision—a|of what had happened. Her affection- dream made up of excruciating hor- | ate manner and her soothing words rors + poured the balm of consolation so ef- +« Fool!” ejaculated the King of} fectually into his wounded spirit, that Darkness, in a tone of such withering | he became absorbed in the soft abstrac- scorn that it startled the goaded, mad-| tions and tender endearments of love; dened Ildirim with as keen a paroxysm | and while thus appreciating more pro- of pain as if a fiery arrow had suddenly | foundly than ever how bright and pre- shot through his heart without taking| cious a gem was the heart of his Al- away his life; ‘* wilt thou still endeavor| meria, 2 flood of so much happiness to cheat thyself into that belief? wilt| rushed in unto his soul, that he could thou persist in tutoring thy recreant} not believe himself to be so unblest as soul to look upon the lie until it assumes; to have really made a compact with the aspect of a welcome truth? Then|Satan. No; he felt convinced that at must | teach thee to regard our com-| was a dreamy; and, thus yielding to the pact as a stern reality, and not as an/| infatuation of his ideas regarding it, he idle dream !”’ | thought to unburthen his mind alto- ‘And, as his scornful lips gave utter- | gcether by revealing those impressions ance to these Jast words, the arch-fiend | to the ear of bis queen. - : ; | } : comicbooks.com