The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 166: what you’re looking at

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

4 i ats | ary * | \ ‘ ' : . ae -— — rt . ils ow » be oe - * - =~ @ © . = La 7 ee , i : “= ee ) ¥. \ ~ +. q ry wis } ees Siete t' < (he _*, t} ‘ . rea “ae «p} eat oe, 4 ih PNBy * ate eae 164 THE BRONZE STATUE. which you have just escaped. The writhing anguish of being flayed alive ; the awful pangs of the rack ; the excru- ciating agonies of being impaled while living ; the unspeakable tortures endur- ed alike by mind and body when enve- loped in the folds of a mighty serpent that licks its victim over with its lam- bent tongue ere it swallows him,—all these exquisite sufferings, combined and eondensed so as to be experienced by one and the same individual, would have been outvied and excelled by that vengeance from which I snatched you —the vengeance of the Bronze 5Sta- tue !’ ‘You alarm me; my God! you alarm me now more than ever,’ murmured Konrad, whose ashy cheeks, white qui- vering lips, shaking limbs, and wildly | staring eyes denoted the indescribable | to conceive ! horror that had taken possession of him. lamp and led the way brck again through the circular chapel, to the vast and gloomy apartment where the colossal image of the Virgin stood. | * * * # « Ten minutes had elapsed, and then 'back to the room where the preceding discourse had taken place, staggered the two young pages, pale, ghastly, and [laboring under so terrible a consterna- tion that the workings of their counte- nances, handsome though they natural- ly were, rendered them hideous and awtul to contemplate. Like galvanized corpses did they /seem; dread horror swayed their entire ‘forms, from the crown of their heads to 'the soles of their feet, horror unspeak- able; horror that defies human lan- guage to depict and human imagination Placing the lamp hastily upon the ta- ‘Yes; your words strike like a pes-| ble, Hubert poured them out each a tilential sickness upon my very heart,’ | brimming cup of wine ; and the youths added Lionel, his own courage com-|drank the -exhilirating liquor at a pletely giving way at the appalling pic- draught. ture which the old man drew, and} ‘lhen did the color slowly return to which, vague though it were, was as| their cheeks and their lips, and the terrible as if its outlines had been traced | wildness of their gaze settled down into with a pencil dipped im fire or seared | looks where reason was expressed once with red hot iron upon the brain of the | more ; for at first it appeared as if their listeners. senses had abandoned them, so tremen- ‘And if Ithus agonise and torture|dous was the fright which they: had you with descriptions so dreadful and delineations so transcendantly frightful, resumed the old steward, his voice now becoming firm in accent though still re- maining profouadly mournful, ‘ If I thus endeavor to call to my aid the most thrilling metaphors and all the strongest epithets to convey to your comprenen- sion some idea of the tremendous doom which you have escaped, it is simply to place in comparatively bright and glow- ing colors the destiny which now awaits you. ‘For what are eternal imprison- ment; separation from father, mother, and friends; exile from the world of flowers, and fruits, and sunshine, and lovely woman’s smiles, oh! what are all these when compared with the fate whence you have just been snatched ! And now, fair youths, in order that you may be convinced of the truth of what { am saying, und that you may learn to appreciate t’ie blessings of life, even though doomed to be passed within these walls, I will reveal and explain to you the awful mysteries connected with the Bronze Statue and the Virgin’s Kiss. Follow me!’ Thus speaking, Hubert took up the SS undergone. And the old steward, too, was pale and agitated, and his hand t.embled ner- vously as he filled the wine-cnps for the two pages and then a bumper for him- self; and thus several minutes elapsed ere either of the three recovered suf- ficient composure to speak a word. ‘Merciful heavens!’ at length mur- mured Konrod, writhing beneath the infliction of an idea, or rather the re- membrance of the revelations which had been made to him; ‘is it possible that I can be awake—that I am laboring what | fancy I have seen—and that the infernal ingenuity of man could have reached an extreme which is calculated | to furnish hints even to Satan himself?’ ‘Alas! alas! it is no delusion,’ said Lionel, in a tone of extreme bitterness ; ‘what we have seen is a reality, and what Hubert has told us is true—ap- |pallingly true! But oh! thou good old / man, to have saved us from that tre- mendous doom!’ he cried, embracing the steward with passionate enthusi- asm—an example whicn was immedi- ately followed by Konrad. ‘If weserve under no delusion—that I have seen . comicbooks.com