From thee I wring the secret, though it torture thee to name it.
I approach thee,--I look dauntless into thine eyes.

The soul that loves can dare all things.

Shadow, I defy thee, and compel!" The spectre waned and recoiled.

Like a vapour that lessens as the sun pierces and pervades it, the form shrank cowering and dwarfed in the dimmer distance, and through the casement again rushed the stars.
"Yes," said the Voice, with a faint and hollow accent, "thou CANST save her from the headsman; for it is written, that sacrifice can save.

Ha! ha!" And the shape again suddenly dilated into the gloom of its giant stature, and its ghastly laugh exulted, as if the Foe, a moment baffled, had regained its might.