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Penny Dreadfuls, 1850 · page 360 of 400

The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 360: what you’re looking at

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The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 360: Penny Dreadfuls, 1850

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ae. tant doe poe - - ae * J ~ i ©. te4 <2. <s ~ > am —— ' . . u oan th teat a’ ie 1 Fae i ‘ <a Sor 8 ~ ° es ~~ rove od i. J t *y . J 4 — © oe pt ee ~~ oe & mi —_ - al ~ - Sy en eo. = \ <. < Rares A Wa ee, ‘oo “~ 358 draught ; strips of the same kind of cloth were fastened, for 2 similar purpose, round the rude window which occupied the loophole of the chamber; and on a table near the head of the couch stood several flasks of medicine. While De Colmar’s perception em- braced these little appearances one by one, his thoughts grew so bewildered and distracted that he could fix them upon nothing, grapple with nothing. it was as if a mist were deepening around his imagination and over his brain,— making him feel Jike one wandering in adream. ‘There was before him suffi- cient testimony to show that a longer interval than a few hours had elapsed sinee he had sunk down In that turret- chamber deprived of consciousness,— the evident endeavors which had been made to increase the comfort of the place—and then those flasks of physic Oh! were not these to be taken as convincing proofs that the knight’s sojourn there had been of some days, _even if not of some weeks? Closing his eyes in order to shut out the influence of all exterior objects, he set himself to work to rescue his ideas from the chaos into which they had -been thrown; and by degrees his me- mory unwound its various threads from the entanglement of confusion. ‘Then his mind resumed its tone; and he was enabled to arrange in their proper order and places all the occurrences of the past. And oh! whatatrain of reminiscences now passed through his imagination,— -along what a chequered vista of inci- dents did his memory retrace Its way ! His love for Satanais and the seductive wiles of Gloria,—his combat with the champion on the heath and the condi- tions imposed by that sable victor,— the journey from Prague with Gloria and the murder at the inn,.—the con- tinuation of the journey with Satanais and the halt at Ildegardo Castle,—Ber- nard’s narrative and the supplementary explanations of Satanais,—the arrival -of the ‘laborite party and the arrest of the dark-eyed houri,—and lastly, the stupendous discovery that Gloria and Satanais, insteerd of being twin-sisters, were one and the same person,—these were the salient features of the path along which De Colmar’s memory now travelied with retrogressive step. But while his soul was yet quivering beneath the influence of startling re- THE BRONZE STATUE. |mind did the bewildering conjecture ‘force itself relative to his sojourn in that turret-chamber. How long had he been there? what was the nature of 'the illness which he had endured 7— whose hand smoothed his pillow, ad- ministered his medicine, and bestowed ‘an air of comfort on that anchorite- abode ? | Again did he open his eyes and Jook ‘around. It was no dream, no delusion, '—he was there, on that humble couch, ) and appearances as well as his own sen- 'sations informed him that he had been | seriously ill and was yet an invalid. But while he was thus revolving a thousand ideas in his mind, the door opened gently, the curtain was thrust aside, and the floating, graceful figure of a female entered the turret-chamber. A sudden ejaculation of tningled sur- prise and joy burst from her lips as her looks encountered those of Sir Ernest de Colmar, for the eyes of our hero gazed not now upon her in listless va- cancy, nor with the wildness of delirium /—but they expressed that recognition of her features which flashed instan- ' taneously across his memory. Yes, the warrior was gazing upon her, but without the power of utter- ance; and when the first feeling of mingled surprise and joy on her part had found for itself a vent in that sud- den ejaculation, an indescribable con- fusion seized upon her, the tint of the rose deepened in a moment to the hue of the peony upon her cheeks; and averting her eyes from the sick man, she turned to quit the chamber abruptly. Then De Colmar’s tongue recovered its powers; the dread of losing the presence of that beauteous being un- locked it in a moment and restored the faculty temporarily lost; and he ex- claimed in a lively accent of prayer, ‘*Angela,—dear Angela,—abandon me not |" Oh! how those words, ‘ dear Angela,’ struck upon the heart of the maiden,— not asa calamity strikes, with cruelty— but as an overpowering fragrance or po- ‘tent perfume produces, even by its very deliciousness, a sensation of faintness. 'She staggered against the wall for sup-- | port—her looks were flung back again upon the warrior’s countenance—and at ‘the same time a mortal pallor chased ‘away the colour from her cheeks, leav- ing them stainless as the satin purity of the camellia. For to her soul had rushed collections, and bending beneath the | the reminiscence. that De Colmar loved weight of dgplorable ones, stil! upon his | A another—loved, in fine, that mysterious x = —-- * > > . 2 : comicbooks.com = Co ™® —— | , ia. RE ee