“I dare not tell!⁠—I must not tell!⁠—Fain would I repose in my grave, but stern commands force me to prolong my punishment!”

“Knowest thou this blood? Knowest thou in whose veins it flowed? Beatrice! Beatrice! In his name I charge thee to answer me!”

“I dare not disobey my taskers.”

“Darest thou disobey me?”

He spoke in a commanding tone, and drew the sable band from his forehead. In spite of his injunctions to the contrary, curiosity would not suffer me to keep my eyes off his face: I raised them, and beheld a burning cross impressed upon his brow. For the horror with which this object inspired me I cannot account, but I never felt its equal! My senses left me for some moments; a mysterious dread overcame my courage, and had not the exorciser caught my hand, I should have fallen out of the circle.