Chapter VII: They Return
Some complicated game had been playing up and down the hillside
all the afternoon. What it was and exactly how the players
had sided, Lucy was slow to discover. Mr. Eager had met them with
a questioning eye. Charlotte had repulsed him with much small
talk. Mr. Emerson, seeking his son, was told whereabouts to find
him. Mr. Beebe, who wore the heated aspect of a neutral, was
bidden to collect the factions for the return home. There was a
general sense of groping and bewilderment. Pan had been amongst
them--not the great god Pan, who has been buried these two
thousand years, but the little god Pan, who presides over social
contretemps and unsuccessful picnics. Mr. Beebe had lost every
one, and had consumed in solitude the tea-basket which he had
brought up as a pleasant surprise. Miss Lavish had lost Miss
Bartlett. Lucy had lost Mr. Eager. Mr. Emerson had lost George.
Miss Bartlett had lost a mackintosh square. Phaethon had lost the
game.
That last fact was undeniable.
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