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 The last detail fixed, the Honorable John Ruffin said, "And so once more, Mrs. Bride, you fill a long-felt want. Her capacity for filling long-felt wants is truly wonderful. Mr. Vance saw her dancing and knew at once that she was the only child in London he could draw for his fairy tales; you see his drawings and know at once that she is the only child in London who can dance the fairy part with you. Yet neither of you has grasped the great, essential fact of her nature, that she can grill bacon better than any one in England."

"It's very nice to be wanted as a model and a dancer; but grilling bacon—" said the Esmeralda; and she shrugged her shoulders in a way she had acquired in South America, in her a very attractive way.

"Ah, you are young—young. The great things of life have not yet their full attraction for you," said the Honorable John Ruffin in a tone of amiable indulgence.

"Oh—as to being young, I shouldn't think that you were were—much over fifty," said the Esmerelda; and her eyes sparkled.

"Ah, I see that you're a judge of your