Then Mytyl, frightened out of her life, began to stamp her feet and utter piercing screams:
"I want to go away!... I want to go away!..."
Tyltyl, though stiff with fright, was able to say:
"Not now.... I am going to turn the diamond...."
"No, no, no!" cried Mytyl. "I am so frightened, little brother!... Don't do it!... I want to go away!..."
Tyltyl vainly tried to lift his hand: he could not reach the diamond with Mytyl clinging to him, hanging with all her weight on her brother's arm and screaming at the top of her voice:
"I don't want to see the Dead!... They will be awful!... I can't possibly!... I am much too frightened!..."
Poor Tyltyl was quite as much terrified as Mytyl, but at each trial, his will and courage were becoming greater; he was learning to master himself; and nothing could induce him to fail in his mission. The eleventh stroke rang out.
"The hour is passing!" he exclaimed. "It is time!"
And releasing himself resolutely from Mytyl's arms, he turned the diamond....