The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 353: what you’re looking at

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

OO, le lye THE BRONZE STATUE. 351 gentlemen flying with equal precipita-| “But all traces of that phenomenon tion, and with the same disregard for| had disappeared; the chapel was still everybody and everything save them- | blazing with the hght of its innumera- selves ble tapers, and a sulphurous odor alone The confusion was terrible! Ladies! remained to convince the baron that were thrown down and trampled upon,|the impression now uppermost upon their shrieks adding to the horror of the | his mind was not a dream. No: it scene ; gemmed plumage was scattered, | was a proof that the roseate halo had gorgeous apparel was torn, brilliant jew- | really shone around the altar according els were lost; and dismay was the rul-|to the belief which his fancy enter- ing sentiment that inspired the whole tained: and thus receiving undoubted company. Madly through the flying | testimony as to one portion of the phe- erowd of haughty nobles and titled | nomenon. he could not doubt the rest. dames, rushed Lord Rodolph; franti- And this chapel, where the tapers cally he cleared a path for himself amid} were — still, burning, was deserted’! the fugitive, shrieking, affrighted throng | Priests, bridal party, nobles, ladies, and —for his ears had caught the words | dependants—all had fied: and he was which his father addressed toe the appa- | there—alone! No, not altogether alone; rition, and he fancied that it was his / for at a little distance an old man was mother’s spirit which had come to warn | kneeling upon the velvet carpet, hang- him against the marriage with the | ing over a lady clothed in virgin white, queen. and whose countenance was white as The chapel was at length cleared, or | her own raiment: at least well nigh emptied of the bril-| *T'was the queen—his son’s bride— liant assemblage which had crowded it| pale, marble pale ; and that was Hubert a few moments before; but the young | who thus bent over her in the deepest, queen Jay motionless in one spot, and | deepest affliction | the Baron of Altendorf unconscious in| ‘My good old friend,’ exclaimed the another. Even the Carthusian priest, | baron, in a tremulous voice, and draw-- usually so bold, so dauntless, so inacces- | ing near with limbs that likewise trem- sible to superstitious alarm, had fled ;| bled; for his nerves were so shakem for he also, as well as Lord Rodolph and | and his spirit so daunted that he expe- —— —— « . a . = —~ ° ~ ——— «“ - . * . ~~ + 3 ty ce Pua . » « — ~ > b = 2 ae er wa! « i_* OF we J Ya oy ® a oo ; a i. ax x ~y -_. & ‘ - 4 > >, y . ae » : : 2 r > re wy 3 +, - a =+ - A e — y - - se ° eRe * - ‘. -* * ’ a - ¥ —— pS x - aa “. z a + > r. -~ 7. Am go <1 a 7 ee o* * PY - * 4 many others who were aware of the | rienced the presentiment of all imagi- at ‘ . . . . . Tr Christian name of the late baroness, be- | nable evils—‘ my good old friend, tel ae . . . . . . ; got, lieved that it was this lady’s spirit|—keep me not in suspense—what has: ats whom the baron had addressed in those | happened to the queen ?’ ai words of mingled wildness and horror. ‘She is dead, my lord—alas! she is: pts ~~, . * ; ’ But forth from behind the altar, a|/ dead!’ cried the old steward, dowm St ‘=. re as figure now stole—a venerable man | whose cheeks the big tears flowed. Wear dressed in the holiday garb of one of| * Dead! No—do not say it, Hubert” ne Altendorf’s superior dependants ; and, | exclaimed the baron, speaking like am a | hastening towards the spot where the | affrighted child, and not with his wont- Beek queen had fallen, he lifted her from the | ed haughtiness and proud assurance. ni velvet carpet. ‘+ Yes, she is dead, my lord!’ solemn- s This old man was Hubert, the stew-|ly replied the old man; then gently ne ard ! | withdrawing his arm from beneath the y eee But scarcely had he raised the ill-| drooping head of the perished queen, fated sovereign in his arms, when a|and slowly rising to his feet, he con- terrible cry escaped his lips—a cry | tinued in a profound and hollow tone, which rang piercingly through the brain |‘ The last hope of Bohemia’s royalty of the Baron of Altendorf and recalled | has withered, never to be restored ! him back to consciousness. 'The young, the beautiful, and the high- Thus suddenly re-awakened from the | born has fallen into that eternal sleep deep trance into which he had fallen, |! whence God alone can waken her. No the grim noble sprang to his feet; and! more will the tears of sorrow bedew as the tide of awful recollections swept; her cheeks—-no more will her heart through his brain, bringing vividly back | palpitate with a secret woe! Upon to his mind all that had just occurred, ! that fair head the royal crown will he flung his horrified looks around as if/ never press; those rigid hands will still fearful of encountering the appari- | never grasp the orb and sceptre! *Tis tion which had temporarily frozen the | done—the day-dream of a momentarily vital current in his veins and paralysed | resuscitated royalty is passed; the stern his whole being. reality of death has swept away the a Sei a ° ~~ - - “a ® Sunt = ~~ Lor wtae 2 ~~ at = sang’ ay - alt — ee — ¢? ee . i ~~ a." = a te egd + oy, » — — om 4 ~~ - comicbooks.com