"
They accordingly turned the chariot off from the road into the edge
of the thicket, unharnessed the horse, and left him free to forage for
himself; whereupon he began to nibble, with great apparent relish, at
the scattered spears of grass peeping up here and there through the
snow. A large rug was brought from the chariot and spread upon the
ground in a sheltered spot, upon which the comedians seated themselves,
in Turkish fashion, in a circle, while Blazius distributed among them
the sorry rations he had managed to scrape together; laughing and
jesting about them in such an amusing manner that all were fain to
join in his merriment, and general good humour prevailed. The Baron
de Sigognac, who had long, indeed always, been accustomed to extreme
frugality, in fact almost starvation, and found it easier to bear such
trials with equanimity than his companions, could not help admiring the
wonderful way in which the pedant made the best of a really desperate
situation, and found something to laugh at and make merry over where
most people would have grumbled and groaned, and bewailed their hard
lot, in a manner to make themselves, and all their companions in misery,
doubly unhappy. But his attention was quickly absorbed in his anxiety
about Isabelle, who was deathly pale, and shivering until her teeth
chattered, though she did her utmost to conceal her suffering condition,
and to laugh with the rest.
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