"I think you are needed to keep the children in order, and I am sure you ought to go back and see about some dinner for those ladies, since you've brought them here," said Missy firmly, pulling the gate after her, and looking at Mr. Andrews from the other side of it.
"I have no doubt they'll see about it themselves, they know more about it than I do. And I want to thank you, Miss Rothermel, for remembering Jay's birthday, for I am ashamed to say I had forgotten it myself. The poor boy would have had a dismal time if it had not been for you. I'm always having to thank you, you see."
"I don't see why you should be at that pains. I didn't do it for—for anybody but Jay, and he and I can settle our little account between ourselves, as I told the new cousin just now. Good-night," and before Mr. Andrews could open the gate, she was swallowed up by the darkness and the shrubbery, and he was obliged to go home, which he did slowly and in some perplexity. He could only hope his cousins would not be as difficult to comprehend as his neighbor was.
As for Missy, she came in with flushed cheeks and threw herself down on the seat beside her mother's sofa.
"Aunt Harriet has not come down? That is the first thing that has gone right to-day. I've got so much to tell you. Mamma, they've come—the new cousins, I mean—right in the midst of the birthday party, and no dinner ready for them, and everything about as bad for me as it could be."
"Now, I suppose you wish you had been contented to stay at home as I advised you. It was unfortunate. Did Mr. Andrews come with them, and how did it happen that they were not expected?"
"Oh, the telegram never was delivered, and they arrived in the last train, without any carriage to meet them, and trundled down four miles in the stage, and arrived hungry and tired, to find all the house dark but the dining-room, and a table full of bonbons and birthday fripperies, in place of the solid cheer that the solid host delights in. Jay met them with howls, and kicked the young lady till she could have cried; but Gabrielle made up in sweetness for the party, ingenuous child that she is!"
"I suppose there is no use in asking if you like them: you had made up your mind on that point long before you saw them!"
"I hate them. I didn't suppose I could detest any one so much. They are ready to open the war at once. They haven't even the grace to wait and see whether I mean to make fight or not. They are bent upon one thing, making a conquest of the stout Adonis, and securing themselves permanently in charge of his establishment. They flew upon the children with kisses before they had seen whether they were oafs or angels; they opened their batteries on me before they knew whether I was an enemy or not. The mother assumed the charge of the house before she had been five minutes in it; the daughter had flattered Mr. Andrews and both the children ad nauseam before she took her bonnet off. Jay is to be Mademoiselle's pet, by arrangement, because they have discovered that he is his father's favorite. Gabrielle falls to Madame's share, and a nice time may she have of it, petting a green snake. They had heard enough of me to know I might be dangerous; and they hadn't sense to wait and to see whether I were or not. It is war to the knife, and now I don't care how soon they bring on their heaviest guns."
"Your metaphor is a little mixed, my dear; I am afraid you are not as cool as could be wished."