The eyes of the pair were fixed upon him with vindictive exultation.

He would have averted his gaze, but an irresistible fascination withheld him.
"Thou seest all is prepared," said Demdike, coming close up the mule on which Paslew was mounted, and pointing to the gigantic gallows, looming above the abbey walls; "wilt them now accede to my request ?" And then he added, significantly--"on the same terms as before." The abbot understood his meaning well.

Life and freedom were offered him by a being, whose power to accomplish his promise he did not doubt.

The struggle was hard; but he resisted the temptation, and answered firmly,-- "No." "Then die the felon death thou meritest," cried Bess, fiercely; "and I will glut mine eyes with the spectacle." Incensed beyond endurance, the abbot looked sternly at her, and raised his hand in denunciation.

The action and the look were so appalling, that the affrighted woman would have fled if her husband had not restrained her.
"By the holy patriarchs and prophets; by the prelates and confessors; by the doctors of the church; by the holy abbots, monks, and eremites, who dwelt in solitudes, in mountains, and in caverns; by the holy saints and martyrs, who suffered torture and death for their faith, I curse thee, witch!" cried Paslew.