prisoners⁠—all, all shall attend me⁠—a goodly fellowship as ever took the downward road⁠—Ha, ha, ha!” and he laughed in his frenzy till the vaulted roof rang again. “Who laughed there?” exclaimed Front-de-Boeuf, in altered mood, for the noise of the conflict did not prevent the echoes of his own mad laughter from returning upon his ear⁠—“who laughed there?⁠—Ulrica, was it thou?⁠—Speak, witch, and I forgive thee⁠—for, only thou or the fiend of hell himself could have laughed at such a moment. Avaunt⁠—avaunt!⁠—”

But it were impious to trace any farther the picture of the blasphemer and parricide’s deathbed.