The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

26 THE BRONZE STATUE, heavenly creature were, if possible, more | preciate the goodness which prompts you splendid in their velvet blackness, and | to offer me pardon for the past. For the more overpowering intheir !uminous glory, | kind intention thus displayed, I thank you than those of Satanais. But then he ob-|—thank you from the bottom of my heart,’ served that the lashes of the former, though | she added, her voice becoming tremulous, thick, Jong, and gently curling, were only |and her lovely white bosom rising and fall- of a dark drown hue, and, therefore, less|ing more rapidly: but, speedily regaining calculated to subdue and soften the lustre | her firmness, and lifting her head in a dig- of those burning orbs than the jetty fringes | nified manner, she exclaimed in the fulness which shaded the eyes of Satanais. of her glorious voice, ‘ By carrying my Although the complexion of this fair} determination into force, I regain a liberty creature who stood before the altar appeared as complete and a freedom as unshackled to combine the softest rose with the purest | as the birds of the air enjoy! Oh! mine is lily, whereas that of Satanais has already | not a spirit to be pent up within the ada- been described to the reader as ofa dark! mantine walls of a cold monotony or to pine : | but clear and transparent olive, and al-| within the limits of a close and constant | t though the hair of the former was of so| supervision: it is a spirit that loves to tower | dazzling a tint, and that of the latter was so | aloft on eagle-pinion, and that would break : velvet-like in its blackness, yet in the facial its wings against the bars of the cage | outline, the contours of the fea‘ures, the | wherein you seek to imprison it. Give me, { admirable symmetry of the form, and the| then, back the vows which I have taken— : : | | em - . | a - - = - * - ~- . a t..3 :_* - ‘é rs * td - ~~ = + erm ee ea ee - > 3 > ~~ LS 2... ae... ne ee ee ee SE — Sa. = - 3 — = _—- + _—_— o—- - - —- — = - ———-—se ——- — _ _ ——— — ——. ; = oe 6 “ ly ee Se Oe ee ee ee ee ee ee | es ee ee em — —- dignity of the stature, there was a marvel-! release me from the pledges which I have i lous resemblance between the two beings. ti ia ee - * made—and the gold is ready for you in re- a = — When, therefore, Sir Ernest de Colmar had 4 % 3) . turn. Are we not agreed as to the aot somewhat recovered from the astonishment | price ?” bth) |)! into which that sudden revelation of so| And, asshe uttered these last words, an eet |} heavenly a beauty had thrown him, and /| expression of mingled contempt and scorn mm, it when the train of thoughts which amaze-| curled her rich scarlet lip for an instant, as maa ment had for a minute suspended, resumed | their natural flow, it struck him that this divine creature and Satanais must be sis- ters. Nay, more—they were even, per- haps, twins; for their age appeared to be the same. But scarcely had Sir Ernest de Colmar formed these conjectures, when the Lady Abbess—an elderly woman, of majestic de- portment—rose from her suppliant posture, and, advancing slowly towards the radiant beauty, she said, in an imploring tone, ‘ Sister Marietta, | adjure thee, by all thy hopes of salvation, to return amongst us. Forgiveness and consolation for the past— tranquil happiness for the present—cheer- she stretched out her arms with graceful gesticulation—those arms which, naked to the shoulders, were so exquisitely modelled ’ and so grandly white! ‘Sister Marietta,’ said the Abbess in a tone of deep melancholy, ‘ we would rather welcome thy return into the peaceful bosom of our holy retreat than bear back with us the yellow gold whereof thon hast spoken,’ ‘Phat may not be,’ was the reply, given in atone of more than feminine decision : and, as the angelic being spoke, Sir Ernest de Colmar—though himself still unseen— could catcha glimpse of the teeth, white as ~~ = ~ Pi ing expectations for t.e future—all these |U™€t pearls, which shone between the at await thee | parting roses of the lips, and were equal in amit} ‘Hear me patiently for a few minutes” faultless beauty to those of Santanais. ah spoke the lovely young creature thus ap-| ‘ Sister Marietta, I implore thee to re- bf i pealed to: and the tones of her voice|turn” exclaimed the Lady Abbess, thrilled into the deepest recesses of the Knight’s soul—for that golden music which ; thus flowed from her tongue was of the same richness and of the same modulation ‘Never! was the emphatic response. ‘ Henceforth shal] ye call me Sister Mari- ella no more. For, oh" she exclaimed, her voice vibrating with musica] tremulousness ~ z ~ = . » a = > 7 = — oe te 8S Oo cee - - = = + a ee ee ee - a el as the voice of Satanais. ‘Hear me) through the church, as if it were the pro- - ." ~ Ts ? } +f : ! 7 patiently for a few minutes,’ she repeated, longed sound of a golden beli—* [ will re- = Entei — after a brief pause, auring which sO pro-'sume that name which my sainted mother found a silence prevailed that a pin might| gave me: yes, I take back that n: have been heard to drop: ‘I; : here | t] rom dictieh-mae ve b e oO drop: ain not here | though not from any weak and girlish sen this night to afford a sickening proof of fe- ) timent of vanity, but from motives of the male vacillation and mutability, but to act! purest and holiest respect to the memory of in accordance with that resolution which is ithe dear parent who is now ap angel in already known to you. Well acquainted | heaven! sor, in that maternal pride which =e the rigid discipline and the severe laws | she experienced when in my early infancy at prevail in your community, | can ap- ; I y y; + can ap-|she pressed me to her bosom, she called me COMICDOOKS-COM