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Rh rule, even though there were only two normal cases as against ten exceptions."

Rose liked this magisterial tone. M. Hervart had, for some time, done nothing but agree with her opinions.

"But how does one recognize the rule?" she went on.

"Rules," said Leonor, "always satisfy the reason."

Rose looked at him in alarm; then, pretending she had understood made a sign of afﬁrmation.

"Women never understand that very well," Leonor continued. "It doesn't satisfy them. They yield only to their feelings. So do men, for that matter, but they don't admit it. So that women accused of hypocrisy and vanity have less of these vices, it may be, than men.... At any rate the rule is the rule. The rule demands that Marguerite should give up..."

"Who's Marguerite?"

"Mme Suif."

"Do you know her well?"

Leonor smiled. "Am I not the nephew and lieutenant of her architect? The rule, then,