human
Do you think we shall have a long spell of this weather, Mr. Clawbonny?
gpt
No, my friend, I don't; it is a last blow from the cold. You see these are his dominions, and he won't be driven out without making some resistance.
human
He can defend himself pretty well,
gpt
Yes; but I ought to have waited, and not have wasted my seed like an ignoramus; and all the more as I could, if necessary, have made them sprout by the kitchen stoves.
human
But do you mean to say, asked Altamont,
gpt
Of course, and without being a wizard. I ought to have put my seed under the protection of Saint Paucratius and the other two saints, whose fête days fall this month.
human
Absurd! Pray tell me what they have to do with it? What influence can they possibly have on the temperature?
gpt
An immense one, if we are to believe horticulturists, who call them the patron saints of the frost.
human
And for what reason?
gpt
Because generally there is a periodical frost in the month of May, and it is coldest from the 11th to the 13th. That is the fact.
human
And how is it explained?
gpt
In two ways. Some say that a larger number of asteroids come between the earth and the sun at this time of year, and others that the mere melting of the snow necessarily absorbs a large amount of heat, and accounts for the low temperature. Both theories are plausible enough, but the fact remains whichever we accept, and I ought to have remembered it.