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. I am not much over fifty. But compared with you and Mrs. Bride, I feel a Methuselah—that knowledge of the world which comes of sad experience," said the Honorable John Ruffin with a weary air.

"It must be that which has given you those wrinkles," said the Esmeralda.

"You are right," said the Honorable John Ruffin. "But don't you think that, as Mrs. Bride's practical guardian, I ought to come to some of those reearsals? I feel it a duty—an almost imperative duty."

"The rules are very strict," said the Esmeralda, hesitating a little.

"You'd be surprised how often I come up against strict rules and how rarely we agree with one another. One of us generally gets broken before we part," said the Honorable John Ruffin sadly. "Still, if you don't forbid me to wrestle with these particular rules, I think I should like to see what stuff they are made of."

"It isn't for me to forbid you—it's the manager's business," said the Esmeralda, smiling a faintly challenging smile; and she rose.