The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 308: what you’re looking at

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

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CONCLUSION OF BERNARD'S HISTORY. ‘Tue proceeding of the Baron of Il- degardo with respect to Korali caused, as I have already stated, the deepest surprise and sorrow amongst all his friends and dependants; and the re- joicings which had been commenced to celebrate the birth of an heiress, and which should have lasted for some time, were abruptly broken off throughout the Ildegardo estates. In one of the villages the populace flew to arms and declared that they would not permit Korali to appear amongst them; but this obnoxious individual despatched a party of the baron’s archers to suppress the tumult; and the soldiers, having been well bribed to do the work effect- ually, made a terrible example of the ringleaders, whom they massacred in a barbarous manner. ‘Thus in a few short hours was the love which the vas- sals upon the estates had ever enter- tained for their noble master, suddenly turned into a bitter hatred ; and the lips which had so lately invoked blessings on his head, now levelled the direst exe- erations against him. His friends de- serted him; his venerable father-in- law, Baron Georgey, sent to remon- strate with him severely upon his pro- ceedings; and the pages of the castle, headed by John Zitzka, repaired to his presence in a body, and demanded their dismissal. His lordship, however, suc- ceeded in inducing those youths to re- main with him, for he was afraid that if they quitted his service at that junc- ture and entered the household of other nobles, they would carry with them evil reports concerning the massacre in the village. ‘Meantime the baron had forged a tale to aecount for the disappearance of Father Heracies, whom he alleged to have been called upon to undertake a | | | er LT —— A tN LLL LLL LLL LL I sudden journey to Prague upon busi-| he foredoomed to a cloister that dearly- ness of the utmost importance. To the Lady Emilia he added a represen- tation to the effect that the holy priest had departed for the capital in order to obtain the assistance of the king in up- rooting the tribunal of the Bronze Sta- tue ; but when several weeks elapsed ecclesiastic, the baron pretended ‘to have received intelligence of his death. Every one was grieved at this announce- ment, for Father Heracles was univer- sally loved; and the Lady Emilia was as much distressed as if it were some very near and dear relative whom she had thus lost. Respecting Korali, she was not sufficiently well acquainted with the details of his former conduct and the general aversion in which he was held, to entertain any strong feeling re- lative to his re-appointment; and her husband was careful in preventing any unpleasant reports or commenis upon the subject from reaching her ears.— Besides, she was too much accustomed to view the baron’s actions with a fa- vorable eye, to have her suspicions easily’ roused concerning them; and her almost undivided attention was now given to the innoceut babe that claimed her maternal care. Upon this child she bestowed the name of Gloria, not only because of the ante-natal dedica- tion to heaven, but likewise on account of its style of loveliness which was even more remarkable than that of the beauteous baroness herself. For with- in a few weeks after its birth, it became apparent that the eyes of the child were endowed with a most extraordinary lus- tre—not shining with that unhealthy fever-light which is painful to behold, but beaming with a Justre alike pure and intense. Upon its little head, too, the golden hair soon appeared like a nascent glory ; while the exquisite fair- ness df the complexion, blending the chastity of the lily with the delicate pinkness of the rose-bud, enhanced the seraphic air of radiancy which charaec- terised the infant Gloria almost from the very instant of her birth. ‘Time wore on, three years elapsed, and the child became a perfect prodigy of infantile loveliness. Nothing could be more winning than its ways—n0- thing more musical than its innocent prattle. And, oh! how tenderly, how ‘fondly, how anxiously did the doating- mother watch the development of her Gloria’s charms ; and how bitterly, bit- terly did the fathes rue the day when comicbooks.com + ;