The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 389: what you’re looking at

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

> + Indeed, the awful state of misery, sutf- THE BRONZE STATUE. 387 ries were expressed with all the haste lady whose remains now lhe in yonder of an agonising suspense and feverish chamber.’ excitement; for the affectionate Angela ‘And also by your generous conni- sought to learn how long the White La-| vance in the good deed, worthy old dy had been dead—whether she had} man,’ said one of the brothers Schwartz, perished by famine—if she had died| throwing a look of fervent gratitude happily—where she was buried—and | upon Hubert. any other particulars which Hubert! ‘ You said that the remains of the might have to communicate. departed one repose in yonder cham- ‘Though sorely pressed for food as| ber,’ murmured Angela, taking the ve- all the inmates of this castle have lately | nerable steward's hand and fixing upon been,’ said the old steward, ‘our re-| him her tearful eyes. vered mistress fell not a victim to the ‘Yes, dear young lady, and thou shalt cruel tortures of famine. *“T'wasa sud-| contemplate those marble features for den breaking down of a constitution un- | the last time,’ said Hubert, understand- dermined by long years of sorrow; and | ing the look of entreaty which Angela the catastrophe was hastened by a shock had thus f istened upon him. which her ladyship experienced some As he gave utterance to these words, six weeks ago, when accident made her | he led the way towards the chamber a spectatrix of the hideous deaths of} which he had already indicated. An- the Marquis of Schomberg and the Ba-| gela and the Captain-General of the roness Hamelen, who received the Vir- | laborites accompanied him thither, and gin’s Kiss!" 'the brethren and sisters of the commu- ‘Ah! the baroness perished thus | nity dwelling in that place, followed exclaimed Zitzka:; but, his attention in-| close behind. stantly concentrating itself again inthe| Slowly and solemnly did Hubert open one absorbing topic of mournful inte-| the door of the chamber, and upon a rest, he said, * Proceed, thou good old| couch standing at the farther extremity man, and hasten to relieve my : of that room, lay the corpse of the White Angela from suspense.’ Lady. ‘Three days only have elapsed since| She was clothed in the Carmelite ves- her ladyship breathed her last,’ con- | ture which she was wont to wear in hex tinued Herbert; ‘ and her remuins have | lifetime; her hands were crossed over not yet been consigned to tlhe tomb.| her bosom, her countenance still wore the expression of holy resignation which fering, and uncertainty to which the | had animated it at the instant of disso- siege has reduced all the inmates of this| lution. ‘The heart’s last earthly feeling castle—whether in these subterraneans| remained stamped upon the mortal or in the regions above—has delayed all | lineaments at the moment death was the preparations which we proposed to| changing there into marble; and as the make for the due celebration of the de-/} soul sak wing to the far off realms of ceased lady’s obsequies. And yet, as| empyrean bliss, it had left behind upon you may perceive, there is no lack of| the features which were once its index mourners,’ added Hubert, looking slow- | the reflection of that pious sentiment of ly around upon the assembled male and resignation which had fitted it to enter female members of the Brotherhood. | into paradise! And those persons were gazing with; Over the couch stooped Angela—and mingled awe and wonder upon Zitzka;|as she kissed the brow of the deceased for Lionel and Konrad, who were among | parent, thick and fast fell her tears upon the number, had instantaneously recog- | the marble countenance of the dead :— nised the Captain-General of the Tabor-| then over the couch also leant the Cap- ites, and had circulated in a hasty whis- | tain-General of the 'T'aborites—and with- per the fact of his presence. in the steel corslet the stalwart breast ‘Yes, there are indeed many mourn-| of the hero was agitated with profound ers,’ observed Zitzka; ‘if all those emotions as he gazed upon those fea- whom I now behold around me have! tures which he had last seen long years prayers to breathe and tears to drop| back, so transcendent in all the loveli- over the deceased lady’s tomb.’ ness of their blushing vitality, and which ‘Oh! and never will mourners’ or ief | he had never thought to behold again, have been more sincere,’ exclaimed either living or dead. Hubert; for every one of those persons,| ‘Then the ; great chieftain of the 'Tabor- male and female, has been saved from! ites and the forest-maiden knelt down the doom of the Bronze Statue by the | by the side of the couch ;—and Hubert, a —— on —_—— es A - — ~ ol “ : : ee Po. \% we . : “+ so” , * arecs , aw =< — P - e . - _— = « - ~* ~ comicbooks.com