Yet no one understood more than he the law of probabilities, or the balance of seasons.

Some time cold must follow warmth, foul follow fair, to work the inevitable mean.

And it was too much to hope that this natural law would be suspended for them until the middle of February.
In fact, the nights while remaining clear were hardening.

The mercury in the tube sank by possibly a degree every two nights, at last touching zero; and it correspondingly failed to arise by as much at noon.

The days were cruelly short.