The Bells; A Romantic Story (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1873 Excerpt: ... CHAPTEB XH. THE Burgomasteb's DREAM. The wedding-guests had left the house. Their voices died away in the distance. One by one the members of the household retired to rest, and gradually, by imperceptible degrees, unbroken stillness settled upon the whilom scene of so much jollity. The burgomaster slept. Was it a good and gentle sleep? Did it refresh the weary brain, brace up again the unstrung nerve.'? See how he strives to move in the bed Why cannot you move, Mathias, why cannot you move? What terrible weight weighs upon your body, to us invisible? Is it the archfiend himself, in the hideous form the monks of the middle ages clad him in so many years ago, that to us in Alsace it seems he could not exist in any other? He sits on your breast, Mathias; he sits on your breast. How heavy how heavy Look at the great black wings stretching away into illimitable spacel How awful they look And the eyes how they glare, while a lurid, sulphurous glow partly illumes the thick, choking, murky air around them. Ha he turns and points Don't look, Mathias, don't look What, you must? Then try to groan, struggle hard to cry out Will it Will it Conquer the spell that holds you bound One sound will do it--but one--but one What you cannot utter it? Woe to you, Mathias, that you cannot, bummon all your strength to bear the sight. It is terrible beyond expression, beyond endurance. What do you see, Mathias? I see a great hall, dimly lighted, its walls so dark and gloomy, I can but guess at where they stand. Gradually it becomes lighter, lighter, lighter. I can distinguish figures now. It is a full court. There must be some great case on, for the public'have flocked from far and near. There sits the president, with his two assistant judges, all three in full robes...