The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

- - EO TT rer Se 2 eee ow =e se Se = eas = = SL TT eee on rounded chin completed the classical per- | 20 THE BRONZE STATUE. ee and be seen even in the midst of the | modelledarms the flowing outlines of which lackest night. The whole ims was so!were in beautiful accordance with the dark as to leave the pupil undetived: or | charms of her entire person. rather, each orb seemed one large, “lack,; A crimson petticoat, reaching just below out glowing pupil. }her knees, revealed all the lower part of There was something fierce and wild *)|the legs, which were robust, but faultlessly these eyes of supernal brilliancy and po; | Symmetrical. ‘The long narrow feet were tentous magnificence: but their expression | imprisoned in well-fitting shoes, from which was subdued into a more feminine beauty, | various colored ribands were wound cross- if not into actual sofiness, by the unusual | wise round the polished limbs, almost up to length, thickness, and Jetty blackness of|}the knees, in the Highland or Albanian the lashes, which slightly curling marked | style. the edges of the eye-lids, from corner to} No ornament had she upon her hair: its ‘corner, with streaks so dark that they miti- | own dark glory outvied the lustre of costl gated the otherwise overwhelming power | gems; its own living gloss transcended the of the eye themselves. brilliancy of precious stones. But to each And these stperb orbs were set in whites | small, roseate, and well-folded ear, hung a delicately tinted with a bluish shade, and| pearl as large and as beautiful as those so pure and stainless that not even a vein| which history assigns to the toilette of slight as a gossamer thread was apparent| Cleopatra. These pearls were the only there. ‘The brows arched nobly and were | decorations that the lovely being wore; but ‘deeply pencilled: but as there was even to her waist was suspended a long dagger, | he Oo* Ge more than the usual distance between | with the handle cf which her taper fingers, them, their decided lines impaired not the | from time to time, played negligently. By grandeur of that radiant countenance. her side, upon the grass, lay a purple velvet The nose was perfectly straight, with’cap, with an elegant plume of white nostrils of the rose-leaf hue: the upper lip | feathers; and Sir Ernest de Colmar thought was short—thus giving a slight expression | within himself that there was not a head in of haughtiness to the face, and adding to| the universe which it would become more the dazzling effect of the magnificent eyes ;|than the one that was already surrounded the teeth were white and pure as pearls,| by a perfect halo of loveliness, fascination, and faulilessly even ;~and the small, well-| and brilliancy. ' ar 7 | he age of this woman, so gloriously fection of these glorious features. | beautiful, seemed to be about nineteen or A flood of hair of that transcendent | twenty; and she was evidently of rank and Dlackness which is darker than the raven’s | consideration amongst the Taborites; for wing, and yetso glossy that it shines as two young females, in attendance upon her, | | ‘with a supernal radiance, poured its silken | were seated at a litile distance, gazing upon luxuriance over the shoulders and down the | their mistress in mingled admiration and back of this being of marvellous beauty.| respect. These handmaidens were both Never before had human head such a mag- | beauitiful creatures: the elder was eighteen, nificent covering: for those flowing masses | and the younger seventeen ; and they were —those wanton undulations of jetty hue, | dressed not only with neatness and simpli- shone like ebony ulumined by sun-beams. city, but in a strict accordance with modest The figure of this lovely creature was propriety. well rounded, without exuberance, and of| At a short distance from that woman : .: ™ . | . . ~ , the most exquisite proportions. Modelled,| whose charms realised in Sir Ernest de as by the hand of a rare perfection in sculp-|Colmar’s mind all the fabulous descrip- ture’s art, her form had all the ease and|tions of female loveliness with which grace which nature can alone confer. She| romance abounds, a grim and ferocious. was slightly above the usual stature of her looking’ warrior was reclining upon the BEX 5 and this advantage added to the dig- green sward. : nity of her mein. He was a man apparently in his forty- Her wondrous beauty was moreover set| fourth or forty-fifth year. Handsome he off, if not positively heightened, by the pic- | had evidently once been ; but the loss of his turesque character of her costume. Her} left eye—the stern expression which war a ; , gay n . ‘ . J 7 . . *. : - vk, > g ~— figure gi e th mould of its own perfect like habits had ..iven to his features—the contours to a tight doublet, or jacket, of | immense quantity of black hair whic] le velvet, which was low in the body | le is hie ee! : ig gr tinged Ow in the body |shaded his forehead and surrounded his ei vney . ort h au eiKe sleeves ; a d irom | fuce, and his rude military garb—all these oe ress her wn ~ bust rose splendidly. gave him an aspect of savage wildness and eing open at the bosom, it was laced | rendered him a being terrible to contemplate. across with scarlet ribands; and from the | In the same way that the beauteoug small loose sleeves, came those admirably | woman above described had her tio hand COMICDOOKS:.CoMm