The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 128: what you’re looking at

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

126 neral standard. We. stand as it were alone-in the midstiof the millions peo- pling, this, globe; exceptions to all the | it iby day the religious atmosphere of the known rules. whieh influence and de- termine the destiny of the human race. Weare the creatures of circumstances unparaileled—unequalled! Lask you, THE BRONZE then, Sir Knicht, | appeal. to you to. pronounce whether OUT deeds and Our thoughts can be estimated in the same | manner, viewed in the same light, and in the same balance. as the and the ideas of other wo- weighed conduc! men ?’ ‘Assuredly. not!’ exclaimed Sir Er- nest de Colmar. ‘And yet you are beth. incapable. of deeds that would bring a blush to your cheeks !’ ‘Ought | not to blush for having in- vited. you to. meet me here to-day ?’ said Gloria, raising her eyes for a mo- ment, flinging their dazzling lustre ra- pidly upon the knight, and then casting them down agains ‘* But you have al- ready admitted that 1 am not bound by the, ordinary rules and formalities which enthral the generality of my sex in ad- amantine chains; and I accept that ad- mission as a proof that you are far, very far from being disposed to prejudge me harshly. listen,’ continued Gloria in a tone of in- creasing animation, ‘to the words which 1 am about to utter.’ She paused for a. few instants, and with her white hands put back the gol- den which had fallen over her brow through bending down her head. ‘My sister, my beloved sister,’ she resumed, raising that glorious head, but tresses STATUE. of. that cloistral.cloom. The silence.of the convent by night was the stillness of a sepulchre; it was appalling! And place vibrated only to whispering voices, speaking low and moodily, Save when those voices joined in hymns before the altar of the chapel. ‘This was the only relief to the awful tranquillity which pervaded the convent: a tranquillity which appeared like the dead calmness of the tomb and left on the soul. the chill impression that though time went on and on in the great world without, ‘made yet everything continued unchanged; unaltered within! For three years did i wrestle against the feelings which me shudder at that conventual gloom, which made me recoil from that cloistral monotony! Often and often, when the moon was shining white and cold through the loop-hole ot my cheer- less cell, have I felt as if its rays piler- ‘ced with the maddening effect of an sisten, len, Sir Knicht— n, then, Sir Knight ice-shaft through my brain; often and often as I wandered by day amongst the tombs in the sculptured aisles of the chapel, have L fancied that I was nothing more than one of the marble effigies temporarily endowed with the faculty of moving ghost-like through that place of sepulchres.: At length | had a dream,—a strange, mysterious, -and supernatural dream,—which deter~ too tar looking steadily forward as she spoke, | so that Sir Ernest de Colmar beheld her classic profile to its greatest advantage, ‘my beloved sister has informed you | that three years ago I entered a con-| vent. in pursuance of that ante-natal de- dication to the service of heaven which my deceased, parents. had pronounced om my behalf. But the discipline of a cloister soon became intolerable ; monotony was enough todrive me mad. {loved and worshipped freedom: and the close. imprisonment of a monastic its life appeared to hem in my very spirit. and surround my intellect itself with walls of iron. The beauties of nature, the green fields, the verdant sroves, the pure air of the country, the singing of birds, the music of insect-life, the rip- pling of streams in their pearly path, all, all seemed lost to me in the depths | ——— mined me to renounce my vestal vows and leave the convent. Again did Gloria pause: and, turning her eyes timidly upon Sir Ernest de Colmar, she lustantaneously perceived by the expression of his countenance how deeply interested he had become in the narrative which she had com- menced. ‘Then did her features light up with smiles of joy, those glorious features beaming with the reflection of heaven s own blessed radiance ; the car- nation deepened upon her damask cheeks, the coral lips, wreathing with pleasure, displayed their rows of orient pearls, and the bosom of dazzling white- ness heaved with a satisfaction the most heartfelt and the most profound. ‘You are listening to me with atten- tion,’ she exclaimed. the golden tones of her voice swelling almost into a pean of triumph; ‘and TI thank you—oh! | thank you unfeignedly. The dream— that strange and supernatural dream, to which I have just allud&d—will yet far- ther engross your interest. ~ While | Sleeping on the hard pallet in my nar- and the azure loveliness of the sky— | row coffin-like cell of solid masonry, metheught that the moonbeams pouring comicbooks.com