The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 275: what you’re looking at

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

- a s, ae THE BRONZE STATUE. knight and his beauteous companion found themselves in the court-yard be- longing to the Donjon; and our hero proposed that they should mount to the summit of the towering edifice and thence view the circumjacent scenery. ‘To this Satanais yielded an assent; and they accordingly began to climb a spiral staircase of stone which wound the inside of one of the four towers the quadrangle. round | ot Irom time to time they paused to. look torth from the holes, upon that part of the ruins which their eyes could thus Command; and at length they gained the top, emerging from a low door upon the flat roof of the Donjon. ‘Lhis roof was destroyed in many places; but all round the edges, where it joined the battlemented para- pet, it was preserved,—thus forming a species of gallery projecting from the walls, but having a vast chasm midst. And down that opening which the conflagration had made, could the eyes plunge to the very foundations of the Donjon; and the brain became dizzy with the contemplation of that yawning depth. It was, therefore, over the parapet that De Colmar and Satanais bent their looks ; and all around them lay the ruin- | ed buildings of the castle, w hile beyond | the exterior wall and the dry moat, the open country stretched in all the varie- ty of declivity and plain, valley and_ grove, mead and hill. Inthe close vi- cinuge of the dilapidated stronghold, meandered the river Moldau; and down to the very bank of the stream extended the enclosure which had once been the beautifully-cultivated of the castle. ur > rden As Sir Ernest de Colmar, with Sata- nais by his side, was slowly carrying his looks around the adjacent country, he caught a glimpse of a dark and shape- ‘ess object on the summit of a far-off! hill, and which did not appear to form the natural head of the eminence itself. Thereon he accordingly fixed his eyes with a keener scrutiny ; and by degrees he could distinguish a regular form of building; the hitherto confused now gradually assuming the shape of walls, Lowers, and battlements. IrlaSs, ‘ Behold, Satanais,’ he said, extending his arm in that direction, ‘ there is ano- ther castle upon you height.’ ‘| have : already observed it,’ sponded, in a tone which was tremulous as if with she re- slightly SOL long narrow loop- | in the) | .| Which fell musingly Kom her lover’s Se ——— : : — «<> his arms and straining her to his breast. -upoo you? or some panic terror panic,’ exclaimed Satanais, in a broken voice and with increasing nga of ‘looks. ‘1 was fvoolish—mad, to come ee profound ‘let us depart clinging to him as if a mortal terror had stricken her, while her magnificent eyes passionate entreaty towar ds his own. 273 feeling that she sought to subdue, or at least to hide. ‘And, behold once more!’ exclaimed De Colmar, whose eyes had travelled a little farther round the horizon in the same direction, ‘there is another castle upon the summit of an eminence near- ly as elevated as the former.’ ‘Yes—lI had already observed that second castle likewise,’ said the Daugh- ter of Satan, with difficulty subduing the profound sigh that swelled alinost into a sob in her bosom. ‘Three casties, all in the same neigh- borhood and within a few miles of each other,’ mused De Colmar to himself, but in an audible tone: and so much was he interested in the contemplation of those castellatec d objects which broke the undulations of the hills in the ho- rizon, that he did not observe the emo- tions which were thus agitating his beauteous companion. ‘Three castles!’ he repeated, ‘and all in such unusual vicinage. Butit isto be hoped that the other two are not in the same lorn and dilapidated condition as this one.’ ‘Yes, those two castles which you be- hold from hence, are likewise in ruins,’ said Satanais, who had caught the words ‘Three castles so close to each other, and all in ruins!’ he exclaimed, struck by the singularity of the circumstance. ‘But what terrible fatality could have worked such wholesale desolation ?— Are you, my beloved Satanais, acquaint- ed with the history of these three cas- tles? for a strange and mysterious pre- sentiment tells me that some legend of no ordinary interest must be associated with this trio of ruined fortalices.’ ‘Oh! let us depart hence, Ernest— '’ cried Satanais, suddenly glared wildly from the countenance that was upturned with an expression of ‘Good heaven! what ails you, my be- loved?’ he demanded, catching her in ‘ Has some sudden indisposition seized ‘Yes, yes—’tis a panic, an irresistible hither; and yet I foresaw not sas the tide of recollections would be so full, so strong, so overwhelming.’ ‘Ah! then you have painful reminis- comicbooks.com