The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 218: what you’re looking at

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

hale 4 216 laughed at me—you ridiculed me-—you spurned me, haughty lacy, and ’ ‘And you will forgive ine? oh! you i aa becoming seriously alarmed. ‘ Tell me, f Ermach—tell me that you will forgive me !’ ‘ Never—never!’ returned the im- _ placable youth, surveying her with looks - wherein diabolical hatred and burning ) lust were horribly commingled. at ‘But what will you do to me? how Abit will you make me feel your power?’ ‘demanded Gloria, trembling from head to foot, while her bosom of dazzling i whiteness heaved convulsively beneath the black lace which covered it. ‘You love Sir Ernest de Colmar ! <= 8 Veen said the page, in a low, thick, and hoarse ; tone, which was expressive of fiendish Steet triumph. i ‘Ah!’ ejaculated Gloria. you are mistaken, Ermach ‘ Vain is your attempt to deceive me, lady,’ interrupted the youth. ‘Oh! by the warm and sunny glances which you have this day thrown upon him—by j the impassioned ardor with which you | have contemplated him.’ ea ‘Enough—enough!’ said Gloria, sharp- ly. ‘Granted, then, that your supposi- tion is correct, and that I love Sir Er- nest de Colmar : ‘His excellency has behaved kindly and generously to me,’ exclaimed Er- mach ; ‘he has snatched me away from a place which I abhorred, and a mode of existence which I detested.’ ‘Yes, I understand that you rendered him good service last night,’ said Glo- ria. ‘But remember your oath, Er- mach, that oath which forbids you to reveal the mysteries of the White Man- | sion and of Hamelen Castle,’ h ‘Lady, I shall respect that oath,’ ob- | Be. served the page, indignantly ; * but with- | out violating it, I may whisper enough | in the ear of Sir Ernest de Colmar- : | + No—no, you would not ruin me thus, Ermach?’ cried Gloria, clasping her hands in passionate entreaty ; + you would not overwhelm me with shame and disgrace in the presence of the man L love? Will nothing move you! nei- _ther prayers, nor tears ! ‘Ves, lady, there is one condition, | and only one ’ said Ermach, still Me rivetting upon the radiant beauty those looks which seemed capable of scorch- i | ing and burning with the intense heat Bien: a of maddened desire, fe, Nt ‘And that condition?’ demanded Glo- Le ria, quivering all over beneath the in- ‘But no— ’ ee <a “ ‘ “ me —~ # =. eS St mere — - * ~ 2.6 ~ RF PKR FY. - ~ rr ¢ wre >" Me ~ — 7 - ‘a _—- ~ THE BRON . will forgive me?’ exclaimed Gloria, now 4k STATUE. fluence of the presentiment that ena- bled her to anticipate the answer which she was about to receive to her question, ‘That condition,’ repeated the page, in a slow and measured tone, while he advanced his countenance so near to Gloria’s face that she felt upon her cheeks the youth’s breath which was hot and fevered with his deeply excited desires; ‘ that condition, lady, is easily comprehended by a woman standing in the presence of one whose breast is rent by furious passions that must either be voluptuously assuaged or terribly avenged.’ ‘Yes, I comprehend you now, Er- mach, said Gloria, a ghastly pallor over- spreading her countenance, while an ominous lustre gleamed in her magnifi- cent eyes, and her lips were for a mo- ment compressed violently, as if she had suddenly armed herself with the resolution to which despair could alone have urged her. ‘You comprehend me, and you as- sent,’ exclaimed her youthful persecu- tor, his countenance lighting up with an expression of ferocious satyr-like triumph. ‘I assent, because there is no alter- native,’ responded Gloria, in a glacial tone. ‘O adorable lady! I will continue to love as much as I was prepared to hate you!’ cried Ermach, in atone of almost wild enthusiasm. ‘From the instant that you surrender yourself to me,— from the moment that you have aban- doned yourself to my arms Oh !— thenceforth I will become your slave, and even my very existence shall be at your disposal! And this night, Gloria, dear (sloria, when all is silent through- out the inn , ‘Which is your chamber, Ermach 7? demanded the lady abruptly, as she for a moment suffered the youth to tuke her hand and press it in his own. ‘ ‘The last on the left hand side, at the end of the passage,’ he answered, com- pletely intoxicated with the dream of bliss in which all his senses were now wrapped. ‘And you will come, dear lady, but not in anger—no, nor with the glacial manner and severe looks of a vic- tim ‘Fear not, Ermach,* interrupted Glo- ria, darting upon him a glance in which he fancied that he perceived the light of a passion akin to his own, ‘ yielding to the force of circumstances, I shalk abandon myself to the full tide of love and happiness.’ comicbooks.com