128 



THE STOBY OF JACKO II. 



The winter of 183 — was unusually severe in Paris, in 

 spite of all the predictions to the contrary of Matthew 

 Lansberg, the weather prophet. 



Counting on the mild season he foretold, many people 

 laid in but a moderate supply of fuel, and amongst them 

 was the artist Tony Johannot. Whether this was the 

 result of faith in the prophet, or of some other reason 

 into which it might be indiscreet to inquire, the fact was 

 that towards the middle of January this distinguished 

 painter, on going to fetch a log from his wood cupboard, 

 discovered that if he continued to keep up fires in both 

 studio and bedroom his store would barely hold out 

 another fortnight. 



Now there had been skating on the canal for a week 

 past, the river itself was frozen, and Monsieur Arago 

 announced from the Observatory that the frost would 

 certainly increase. And the past being a guarantee for 

 the future, the public began to think that M. Arago was 

 probably right, and that for once Matthew Lansberg was 

 mistaken. 



Tony returned from his wood cupboard much troubled 

 by the result of his calculations. It seemed a choice of 

 freezing by day or freezing by night ! However, on 

 thinking the matter well over as he worked away at his 

 big picture of the hanging of Admiral Coligny at Mont- 

 faucon, it struck him that the simplest plan would be to 

 move his bed into the studio. 



