"What is the cause of this laughter?" asked Pichegru. "The people are not insulting the condemned men, are they?"
"Quite on the contrary, general, they are pitying them."
"But what is the meaning of those bursts of laughter then?"
"It is not their fault, general; he would make a mile-stone laugh!"
"Who?"
"The surgeon Figeac, who is to be guillotined; he is cracking so many jokes from the top of the cart that even the condemned men are convulsed with laughter."
The general and his companions looked at each other.
"The time seems to me rather ill-chosen for mirth," said Pichegru.
"Well, he seems to have found a laughable side to death."