The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 309: what you’re looking at

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

THE BRONZE STATUE. beloved daughter whose childhood gave promise of so magnificent a woman- hood. Often, too, ‘did he brood upon the negociations which the murdered Heracles had opened with the king in reference to the extirpation of the tre- mendous tribunal which seemed like an. | evil genius governing the destiny of the | Ildegardo tamily; and the deeper he) pondered upon these things, the more | strike a jurisdiction in the determined did he become to grand blow at that secret which ever haunted him, even broad glare of like a night-mare. ‘These thoughts he fre- quently communicated to his wife ; and noon, every time he urged them upon her consideration, her repugnance to the desperate undertaking grew more and more feeble. For although Gloria was irrevocably destined to take the veil, yet it would have been an unutterable relief and a beatific consolation to the hideous bruised spirit of the adoring mother to! know that when the proper time should come her daughter might seek the se- clusion of that convent where Emilia’s sisters were already established, instead of being compelled to flee her na- tive land in order to escape the claims of the votaries of the Bronze Statue. Such were the mother’s reflections ; but those of the father were of a bolder nature. kor when he contemplated his little girl already so transcendently lovely, and looked forward to the time when these nascent charms would de- velop themselves into a glorious wo- unfounded: — ————e | the inhabitants was e xcited to a fren- manhood, he thought that if he could) only save her from the hideous service | of the Bronze Statue by successtully accomplishing the ruin of that awful institution, he would find some priest | to grant him absolution from that vow which had dedicated her to a cloister. Then how elate would be his heart and | how proud his feelings when he could behold his daughter the centre of ad- miring guests—the brightest star amidst a galaxy of high-born beauties—and the object of courtship on the part not only of Bohemia’s mightiest nobles but like- wise of Europe’s princes, all contending for the honor and happiness of her hand ! | —they ceived letters from the capital at the — ee | fire througho ut the estates, aye, even to with scythes and reaping-hooks, con- | cregated ‘In such day-dreams as these didthe Baron ot [idegardo length, when Gloria old, he made up his himself to his father-in-law, indulge; and, at was three years’ mind to unbosom Baron Georgey, and induce the venerable peer to join him ia a crusade ageinst the Ba- ron of Altendorf. But at this period an 307 occurrence took place which gave a new aapect to the position of affairs ‘Early one morning as some fisher- men were pursuing their avocations on the banks of the Moldau, they drew /up intheir nets a heavy object which proved to be a sack containing some- thing the mere touch of which excited horrible suspicions in their mind. Nor were these presentient apprehensions upon examining the sack, it was found to contain a decomposing corpse. ‘lhe apparel, though rotting around the remains which it enfolded, was nevertheless easily recognised as having been an ecclesiastical garb; and around the waist of the body was a string of beads with the aross ap pend- ed—thus leaving no doubt as to the pro- fe ssion ot the de 1Co ased., Nor was thecorpse so thoroughly dis- figured as to reduce it te utter shapeless- ness; and it was therefore ascertained that the individual must have been an old man and that he had been cruelly and brutally murdered. While the fish- ermen were thus engaged in examining the corpse, one of the dependants of the Castle passed by the spot; and, his at- tention being called to the shocking dis- covery just made, he speedily recog- nized the beads and cross as having be- longed to Father Heracles |! ‘The remains were now borne to the adjacent village ; and the indignation of “- ils “= wee > - ee 3% eae «on - > * : Ss - * ae ~~ - a * - - - - , — + Bl « 45 - ¢ 7 “ac ) ated * . - — Se ae kl - - *; « r rhs v > i - Oa ee wee ee Heel a sae 7 * nS he _ ie ae aa : ‘—* eee . ey . . zied pitch. ‘They all remembered ina moinent that it was the Baron of Ide- gardo himself who propagated the story of the reverend father’s death in Prague : recalled to mind the fact that Be i his lordship had pretended to have re- 1S 7 time announcing the priest’s demise and they therefore naturally came to the conclusion that he who had thus spread false tidings to explain the holy man’s disappearance, must have been the murderer! ‘lhe news of the dis- covery of the corpse spread like wild- the domains of Georgey and Manfredo ; : —and the peasantry, arming themselves in formidable numbers with the openly avowed intention of avenging the death of the old pastor who had been so universally beloved. ‘The inci- dent was seized upon as an opportunity for raising a death-cry against the hated Korali; and when some one endowed with a memory more tenacious than the rest, observed thatthe restoration of comicbooks.com