The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 161: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. 159 One of the muffled figures held a small|er! But when the water is suffered to phial in his hand; and by a certain burn- | fall drop by drop upon the exposed and ing taste which remained inthe mouths | shaven head, and always precisely upon of the pages, they instantaneously per-|the same spot, then the anguish be- ceived that some potent fluid had been | comes excruciating, maddening, goad- . used to restore them to consciousness. | ing, and body and soul writhe, and twist, The cords had likewise been removed | and convulse beneath the hellish inflic- from their limbs for the purpose of fa-|tion. In this case it is that Death is cilitating their’ recovery: and thus did | the torturer! it seem us if an exquisite refinement of So was it with Lionel and Konrad . human cruelty had brought them back | For if their oppressors had taken their to life in order that they might be deliv- | lives at once either by the halter or the ered up to a terrible death | sword, they would have met their fate Rising to their feet, and thus disen-| boldly, w ell knowing that it was like @ gaging themselves from the support of | | rapid and desperate plunge into a whirl- those three figures whose funeral pres-| ing torrent where annihilation must be ence appalled them—Lionel and Kon- | instantaneous: butto march them down rad threw themselves into each other’s | from the bright sunshine into the bowels arms; and, believing that death was at | of the ¢ arth, to conduct them amidst the hand, they gave vent toa passionate |awful silence of tombs, to lead them outburst of grie ‘f, while sobbing forth| through a place where a frightful me- their sad farewells forever ! chanism harrowed their souls, to con- «This is unworthy of us,” at length | front them suddenly with that Bronze said the elder page, obedient to an im-| Statue which was the Virgin in seem- pulse of suddenly reviving courage, Ing but might be a Fiend in sooth, and ‘Let us meet our fate with Christian | then to introduce them to a rude chapel fortitude.” which appeared the very threshold of * Oh! if it were in the battle-field, Death’s dark and ghastly kingdom, and Lionel,” exclaimed Konrad, in atone of | where three sable-mufiled shapes stole mingled bitterness and agony, ‘*wej|in upon them, noiselessly, as black would not disgrace our sex, our nation, dom s and ominously as gliding spec- ett or our illustrious master. But to die/tres from the grave, ‘oh! this was the thus, in the bowels of the earth, unseen, | torture of the dropping water that mad- unpitied, unprayed for. Oh! it is this, | dened, and goaded, and frenzied, and it is this which rends my soul with an- | excruciated ere the crowning consum- guish and pierces me to the very quick.” | mation came! ‘Are there no means of moving yeto| And then, Almighty God! had they compassion ’? demanded Lionel, glane-| heard aright? ‘Those words, those fa- ing earnestly round upon Hube srt and | tal words which bade them speak not of the armed men, but withdfawing his|compassion there, words which extin- looks shudderingly from those three} guished in a moment the last flickering mufiled figures whose very presence |of hope’s lamp in their souls, and en- seemed to stagnate the current of his | veloped them m the stupendous dark- blood: for in spite of himself the thought | ness of despair wound itself cold and snake-like round ‘Konrad, farewell" once more I bid his heart, that those black cowls so com- | thee farewell!’ murmured Lionel, after pletely drawn over them concealed eith-|a pause of nearly a minute, during which er the heads of skeletons or the coun-|a profound silence prevailed, and every tenances of the dead! one was motionless as a statue in that ‘+¢ Compassion is not a word to be men- | circular chapel. tioned here |” spoke one of those appal-| ‘Farewell, Lionel—dear Lionel— ling mysterious shapes, ina voice which |farewell!’ sobbed the younger page, appeared to come from some hollow|throwing himself upon his comrade’s depth : and, O merciful Ged! how those | breast and w eeping bitterly. ‘Courage, Konrad, courage!’ ex- cavern-like ones crept slowly, slowly, slowly through the blood of the twoj|claimed Lionel, in a tone full of holy soothing: ‘God will avenge us sooner young pages who were thus enduring the gradient agonies of ten thousand |or later; for He will permit no iniquity to remain long unpunished.’ deaths. For the mighty torrent overwhelms| ‘Oh! if we could only forward a last word, or some memorial, to our beloved and sweeps uway its victims at once; muster,’ cried the younger page, with- there is a shriek, a struggle, and all is over. Death in that case is no tortur-! drawing himself from his friend’s em- = = —_ bd _— ~~], le * f i—h se oe .- e~ Bin » >: eee be - — * « * cw AS A TE ——_ Sool -— te — —. Ste oe - _ Pe A Carpal eta wail! SAP OM ESD comicbooks.com