A thrum cap first appeared above the level of the floor; then a broad, bloated face, the mouth and chin fringed with a white beard like the whiskers of a cat; then a thick, bull throat; then a pair of brawny shoulders; then a square, thick-set frame; and Mother Demdike stood before her.  A malignant smile played upon her hideous countenance, and gleamed from her eyes—­those eyes so strangely placed by nature, as if to intimate her doom, and that of her fated race, to whom the horrible blemish was transmitted.  As the old witch leaped heavily upon the ground, the trapdoor closed behind her.

“Soh, you are better, Alizon, and have quitted your couch, I find,” she cried, striking her staff upon the floor.  “But you look faint and feeble still.  I will give you something to revive you.  I have a wondrous cordial in yon closet—­a rare restorative—­ha! ha!  It will make you well the moment it has passed your lips.  I will fetch it at once.”

“I will have none of it,” replied Alizon; “I would rather die.”

“Rather die!” echoed Mother Demdike, sarcastically, “because, forsooth, you are crossed in love.  But you shall have the man of your heart yet, if you will only follow my counsel, and do as I bid you.  Richard Assheton shall be yours, and with your mother’s consent, provided—­”

“I understand the condition you annex to the promise,” interrupted Alizon, “and the terms upon which you would fulfil it:  but you seek in vain to tempt me, old woman.  I now comprehend why I am brought hither.”

“Ay, indeed!” exclaimed the old witch.  “And why is it, then, since you are so quick-witted?”

“You desire to make an offering to the evil being you serve,” cried Alizon, with sudden energy.  “You have entered into some dark compact, which compels you to deliver up a victim in each year to the Fiend, or your own soul becomes forfeit.  Thus you have hitherto lengthened out your wretched life, and you hope to extend the term yet farther through me.  I have heard this tale before, but I would not believe it.  Now I do.  This is why you have stolen me from my mother—­have braved her anger—­and brought me to this impious tower.”

The old hag laughed hoarsely.

“The tale thou hast heard respecting me is true,” she said.  “I have a compact which requires me to make a proselyte to the power I serve within each year, and if I fail in doing so, I must pay the penalty thou hast mentioned.  A like compact exists between Mistress Nutter and the Fiend.”

She paused for a moment, to watch the effect of her words on Alizon, and then resumed.

“Thy mother would have sacrificed thee if thou hadst been left with her; but I have carried thee off, because I conceive I am best entitled to thee.  Thou wert brought up as my grand-daughter, and therefore I claim thee as my own.”

“And you think to deal with me as if I were a puppet in your hands?” cried Alizon.