The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 199: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. 197 if A glance showed De Colmar that Er- | pends upon our arriving first at Hame- : mach was in the hall; and a rapid sign|len Castle.’ mn which the youth made, convinced him| And, with these words, he hastened ab that the boy was staunch and faithful | down the stone steps and led the way ; to the compact previously settled be-|rapidly along the subterranean, the ; tween them. knight and Angela following at equal ‘Whoare ye? whitherare ye going? | speed. and what signifies the blood upon your ‘‘T'he chances are all in our favor,’ , weapons!’ demanded the foremost of | said the page, after a few moments’ si- the eight armed men, his looks alter-|lence. ‘ Father Cyprian and his ruf- nating rapidly between the knight and | fians will hasten from the White Man- Angela. }sion to the Castle in order to intercept ‘ None of those queries do we choose} us. But if they take horse, they must to answer,’ said De Colmar, sternly,—| pursue a circuitous route on account of ‘but we are prepared to fight our path|the dense woods intervening; and if through all opposition.’ they go on foot, we have obtained a fair ‘Then to the gates, my brave fellows, | start of them. Once let us reach the and guard the way against these sus- | Castle, and we are safe!’ added the picious-looking strangers!’ exclaimed | yeuth emphatically. the man who had previously spoken. | ‘Howso?’ demanded De Colmar.— Five of the armed servitors there-| ‘Is it left unprotected ?’ upon marched out of the hall and tra- versed the court-yard, proceeding in the direction of the grand portals of the mansion; while the three who were left behind, posted themselves upon the threshold of the marble hall itself, and, presenting their halberds, thus silently but significantly dared our hero and heroine to advance. scarcely was this manceuvre execu- ted, and just as the knight and Angela were about to rush on to the attack, the Carthusian appeared at the head of the staircase, exclaiming, ‘Secure them,— capture them, I say,—but slay them not!’ At the same instant Ermach bounded forward, bade the knight. follow him, and then disappeared beneath the stair- case. For a moment, and only for a mo- ment, did De Colmar hesitate. It flasned to his mind that the page was about to play him false and lead him in- to the subterranean, the dangers of which were already too wéll known to him; and then it struck him that Er- mach must be sincere and that the un- der-ground passage might prove an is- sue of safety. Therefore, seizing Angela by the arm, De Colmar pushed her on abruptly before him; and hurrying after her, he closed the low door in the faces of the armed men who had bounded forward to arrest this rapidly-executed move- ment. Onthe steps Ermach was stand- ing with a lamp in his hand; and, aided by the light thereof, Sir Ernest shot the huge bolt into its socket. *Now let us run for our lives,’ ex- claimed Ermach, ‘for everything de- ‘Itis well nigh empty at this moment,’ rejoined Ermach. hey had now reached a massive door, which was speedily opened, and their way was continued along the sub- terranean. In a few minutes another door, stretching across the vaulted passage, barred their progress for a moment,— and only for a moment; inasmuch as it was easily opened by the young page who led the way, A third door at length appeared ; they ascended a flight of stone steps, and thence they emerged by a wicket into a marble hall, less spacious than that of the White Mansion, but of the fine old gothic architecture of the feudal ages. ‘We are now safe in Hamelen Cas- tle,’ said the young page exultingly, as he tossed aside the lamp into the corner of the hall; then leading the way to a court-yard surrounded by massive build- ings, flanked with gloomy towers, he observed, ‘We must not waste time in repairing to the stables to procure horses. ‘The few minutes lost thereby would just. place us in the power of our enemies, supposing that they are indeed on their way from the White Mansion hither.’ ‘Let us hasten forth, then, from this place,’ said De Colmar; for I perceive, alas! that [ must for the present aban- don all hope of discovering any farther clue tothe fate of my poor pages.’ Ermarch now conducted the knight and Angela to the arched gateway of the castle; and the old porter whom they found in charge of the entrance, trem- blingly obeyed the command he received to open the massive portal, and unlock —_ ; . +... ~~ « o> <s =, Tie eS Soe an SY Sa ee oe * — " ' fl comicbooks.com