To show how hunger may work upon the feelings, I may say that, in spite
of the marks of the feet of mice in the cold gravy which remained on the
dish, I forced myself to cut off a wedge, and, after removing a
thick layer of meat on the exposed sides, essayed to eat the heart of
the wedge. The sheep and its progenitors had been fed on garlic from all
time, and the mutton had been boiled in a decoction of that noxious
herb; and this dish was in its turn rejected like the others. There was
nothing for it but salad, and bread, and wine; but when the salad
appeared, after a long time had been spent in the kitchen in saturating
the withered greens with oil and vitriolic vinegar, there, perched on
the top like one of those animals which sometimes spoil one's enjoyment
of a strawberry-bed, was a huge onion, with numerous satellites peeping
out from under the leaves. About this time, a short diversion was caused
by the reappearance of one of the large hounds, whose mind was not at
ease as to the completeness of the previous elimination of the cats from
the _salle-a-manger;_ and the diabolical noise and scuffle which ensued
upon his investigation of a dark corner, showed that his doubts had
been well grounded.
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