The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. 23 seating himself on the couch which had charms, her name, and her presence amongst beeh prepared for his accommodation, fell| the Taborites, the more bewildered did he into a train of wild and bewildering con- | become. jectures with regard to the magnificent Sa- | ' ’ tanals. CHAPTER VII. FRESH MYSTERIES. No wonder was it that the thoughts of Sir Ernest de Colmar should be thus That she was a Christian, there was levery reason to imagine: for had she not centred in the contemplation of that image which seemed to be an impression left upon his mind by a delicious dream, rather than the reflex of a reality. For a loveliness of go extraordinary a nature, combined with such a profound and romantic mysterious- ness of name, nation, and character, could not fail to excite a vivid interest in the breast of any one who was brought for the first time in contact with that earthly houri. | That she was no relation of Zitzka, had been positively asserted: but that the Ta-| borite chief looked upon her in the same light as if she were a well-beloved daugh- ter, was as pointedly declared. Sir Ernest de Colmar appreciated all the delicacy of this latter intimation which Zitzka had con- veyed to his ear: it was a homage render- ed to the fair fame of Satanais—it was an averment seasonably made to annihilate at the very outset any suspicion which might be engendered detrimental to the lady’s ho- | nor. Equivocal as her presence in the I’a- borite encampment had for a moment ap- peared to Sir Ernest, he was speedily en- lichtened on that head; and the honest, | murdered received a Christian benediction ?—and did not her countenance indicate at the time that her heart was touched by the manner in which Zitzka invoked the spirit of the Reformer to watch over her? But, if she were indeed a Christian, how could she retain so singular and ominous an appellation as that which stigmatised her as the Dauchter of Satan? And this circumstance seemed to the Knight to be the more bewildering, inasmuch as the Ta- borites, with whom she was represented to enjoy such an immense influence and by whom she was so enthusiastically beloved, were an austere, simple, pure-minded, and republican community, believing that every- thing primitive and natural was best, and that everything strained and artificial was pernicious and wrong. Yet so far from being shocked by the presence of one who bore the name of Satanais, the3e good ‘Ta- borites (whose character Father Cyprian had malignantly aspersed by unmerited epithets) idolized and adored the mysteri ous Jady, and would have perished in aven- cing the slightest look or the merest word that threatened her with insult Such was the crowd of thoughts which swept through the brain of Sir Ernest de Co]mar,as he sat upon that couch to seek the repose of which he experienced not frank, and unmistakable remark of Zitzka | so far proclaimed her true position inas- much as it showed that she was not the one-eyed chieftain’s mistress. And if any- | thing wese wanting to confirm this intima- | tion, the additional proof was furnished not | only by the filial, confiding, and ingenuous manner in which Satanais had approached the T'aborite General to receive his blessing | ‘reconcile all her influence, power, and fas- —but also by the paternal, sincere, and un- affected way in which that henediction was | bestowed by the grim warrior. ’ a . Who, then, was the charming and dark- eyed Satanais?—for what purpose had she | taken up her abode with the ‘Taboritesr and how happened it that a creature ol such celestial beauty should possess a name of such infernal origin ? To none ol these queries which sprang up in his mind, could Sir Eraest de Colmar even conjecture a response : they defied al! the efforts of imagination to elucidate or exolain. A deep impenetrable mystery surrounded that glorious being: and the longer the Knight reflected npon her : ) the slightest inclination. ‘The activity of his mind prevented him from experiencing any physical fatigue after his day’s journey. The image of Satanais sustained within him the excitement of a lively curiosity and a deep interest : and he felt a vague, mys- terious, and undefinable longing to know more of her—to penetrate into her history— to draw aside thut veil of romance which enveloped her entire being—to bring down as it were the goddess from her high pedes- tal, in the hope that a nearer view would cination with the attributes and the cir- cumstances of a mortal women. And now Sir Ernest de Colmar beran to ask himself whether the almost superhuman beauty of that magnificent creature had made animpression upon his heart. But he was better skilled in war and diplomacy than in love; and his experience was great- er in cutting his path through the serried ranks of battle than in tracing his way amidst the roseate bowersof Venus. ‘The dry technicalities of politicians were more familiar to his ear than the Janguage of passion: in a word, the Knight had never as yet known what love was: comicbooks.com er . . eet? _ Oe <<. >>222 2, - - ~ oe at ee — AO oom ‘ “a = d a _- +