The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 169: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. 167 word to put her upon her guard against|| Thus endeavoring to reassure him- the hostile intentions cherished by Fa-_ ther Cyprian. This matter had entire- ly escaped his memory; the sanguin- ary tragedy which occurred upon the bank of the Moldau, had engaged all his thoughts, and his interview with the Daughter of Glory had been so agitated throughout, that in the excitement pro- duced by the immediate occurrence, all past topics were forgotten. The Golden Falcon was in sight when | -~ it thus flashed to De Colmar’s mind that he had been guilty of a grievous oversight in not warning Gloria against the machinations and intrigues of Fa- ther Cyprian. At first he thought of turning back and retracing his way to the Frove in the midst of which her pavilion was situated ; but then he re- membered that she had bade him fare- well an. unmistakable intimation that she did not expect to see him again until the period .of their departure for Vienna. A certain sense of loathing and abhor- rence which had sprung up in his mind despite of himself, and the experience ‘until the sixth morning hence ’— of which gave him pain, likewise ren-| dered him unwilling to seek another snterview with her that day; and yet it wus absolutely that she should be warned against the Carthu- sian. An ideastruck him! He would send one of his pages with a note or message. For surely the youths must have re- turned by this late hour in the day, ai- ter being absent all night: necessary But the hurried inquiry which Sir | Ernest de Colmar put to Master ‘lemp- lin. on crossing the threshold of the Golden Falcon, elicited the alarming in- | telligence that Lionel and Konrad had not re-appeared; andthe knight now grew very seriously uneasy. ‘lhe land- | lord observed the cloud which settled | upon the warrior’s brow, and ventured to drop a few disjointed hints to the ef- | fect that ‘young men were wild at times 3’ as other cities,’ and so forth. nest was too deeply absorbed in painful thought, arising from the protracted absence of his pages, to notice the well- meant attempts of the host to dissipate his fears concerning them; but being ‘Prague had pleasures as well | Sir Er- | self, the knight again turned his thoughts in the direction of Gloria; and he was more than half resolved to retrace his steps without delay to the grove, when it struck him that it would be perhaps more prudent, as it was certainly more convenient at the time, to forward the necessary warning to her through the medium of the Captain-General of the ‘l‘aborites. To the Castle of Prague he accord- ingly repaired; and, having immediate- ly obtained an audience of Zitzka, he communicated to him word for word the discourse which Angela Wildon had overheard between Father Cyprian and Dame Martha at the tavern on the pre- ceding evening. ‘lhe expressed his gratitude in fitting terms for the intelligence thus imparted; and De Colmar took his leave of the erim warrior, to whom he spoke not a single sentence respecting the affairs of bo- hemia during this brief interview. Scarcely had the ‘knight quitted the castle, wheh Zitzka mounted his horse and repaired to the little ‘T'aborite out- post established in the grove overhang- ing the bank of the Moldau. Gloria was walking amidst the foliage at a short distance from her pavilion; and she was somewhat surprised when she beheld the Taborite chieftain advancing along the pathway towards her. But she received him with an affectionate cordiality ; and, dismounting from his horse, he embraced her with a tender familiarity, such as a father or a brother might display. Then the radiant being took the arm of the mighty warrior; and, as they walked to and fro in the umbrageous path, they discoursed ina subdued tone and with earnest looks. For upwards of half an hour did this conversation last; and, when it termi- nated, Zitzka mounted his horse and’ rode rapidly back to Prague while Gloria issued immediate orders to break up the little encampment in the grove, alleging as a reason that apartments had been prepared for her in the castle. By this time Angela had awakened from the deep slumber into which she ‘had fallen when first introduced to the unable to adopt any remedial measure | *n the affair, he was compelled to fall back upon the hope that they had found some clue to the princess’s abode and did not choose to desist from following it up to the end. | | | | | pavilion a few hours previously ; and Gloria, dismissing her handmaidens for the moment, seated herself by the couch on which her guest was reclining. To the tender and even affectionate 1n- quiries which she put, Angela respond- ‘led to the eifect that she still experi- ‘l'aborite chief 4° i CcComiIcbOOKS + 2 SS — + ’ : 9 - re | ie” ¥, "BS ,. b .cOmM