If the woman would not show what she experienced as a mother, she did not always succeed in preventing some secret anguish for him to rend her heart.
Meanwhile, if the young novice was not sufficiently advanced in his hydrographic studies to make his point, he possessed a true sailor's scent, when the question was "to tell the weather." The appearance of the sky, for one thing; on the other hand, the indications of the barometer, enabled him to be on his guard.

Captain Hull, a good meteorologist, had taught him to consult this instrument, whose prognostications are remarkably sure.
Here is, in a few words, what the notices relative to the observation of the barometer contain: 1.

When, after a rather long continuance of fine weather, the barometer begins to fall in a sudden and continuous manner, rain will certainly fall; but, if the fine weather has had a long duration, the mercury may fall two or three days in the tube of the barometer before any change in the state of the atmosphere may be perceived.

Then, the longer the time between the falling of the mercury and the arrival of the rain, the longer will be the duration of rainy weather.
2.

If, on the contrary, during a rainy period which has already had a long duration, the barometer commences to rise slowly and regularly, very certainly fine weather will come, and it will last much longer if a long interval elapses between its arrival and the rising of the barometer.
3.