"Have you and Jay made friends?" he said, unfortunately. "I did not know we had quarreled," she returned. She would have resented anything he said, not having forgotten his approving glance at Flora, when she made them all laugh at her. "I am awfully sorry," began Mr. Andrews, in a low tone, looking at the carpet. But Missy didn't permit him to finish the sentence. "Oh, Mr. Andrews, that is such an old story. You are always being awfully sorry, but it never prevents things happening. I think the only way is not to give them a chance to happen. I want to go home now, if you will see if my maid is come." Mr. Andrews went to see if the maid had come. She had, and was having a beautiful time in the kitchen with the servants. What Mr. Andrews was thinking of when he came back into the parlor it was difficult to guess from his face. He might have been angry, he might have been bored, he might have been wounded. He certainly wasn't in a good humor. He merely said to Miss Rothermel that her servant was in the hall, and then stood aside as she moved away, only bowing as she said good-night, and, with a kiss to Jay, and as few words as possible to the others, passed out of the room. "The only way is not to give such things a chance to happen," she said to herself, all in a quiver, as she went out into the night, and the door shut behind her. She heard a not very suppressed noise of laughter in the parlor, as she passed the windows going off the piazza. She had crossed that threshold for the last, last time, she said to herself. And this time she kept her resolution. CHAPTER XXI. MRS. HAZARD SMATTER. The two houses were now at open war, at least the female part of them. Jay was forbidden, without any secresy, to go into his neighbor's grounds, Gabrielle was in an ecstasy of gossip all the while, and brought Flora news, true and false, continually. She spied through the hedge, and found the new servants and her high-minded cousins ready to receive a report of all she discovered, _i.e._, if it were reported in a whisper. Mr. Andrews seemed to have given up all attempts to reconcile the contending parties. He never went to the Varians' now, nor made any effort to exchange neighborly courtesies.