"Why?" Millicent asked.

Forrester passed a hand over his forehead. "Well," he said at last,
thinking about Gerda, only a few feet away, "I thought it might be nicer
if we were quiet. Sort of private and romantic."

"Oh," Bette said.

Kathy spoke up. "You mean we have to whisper? As if we were doing
something secret?"

Forrester tightened his lips. He felt the beginnings of a strong
distaste for Kathy. Why couldn't she leave well enough alone? But he
only said: "Well, yes. I thought it might be fun. Let's try it, girls."

"Of course, Lord Dionysus," Kathy said demurely.

He disliked her, he decided, intensely.

There was a little silence.

"Well," Forrester said. "You're all such beautiful girls that I hardly
know how to--ah--proceed from here."

Millicent tittered. So did one of the others--Judy, Forrester thought.

"I wouldn't want any of you to feel disappointed, or think you were any
lower in my estimation than--than any other one of you." The sentence
seemed to have got lost somewhere, Forrester thought, but he had
straightened it out. "That wouldn't be fair," he went on, "and we Gods
are always fair."

The sentence didn't ring quite true in Forrester's mind, and he thought
he heard one of the girls snicker, but he ignored it and went bravely
on.

"So," he said, "we're going to have a little game."

Millicent said: "Game?"

"Sure," Forrester said, trying his best to sound enthusiastic. "We all
like games, don't we? I mean, what's an orgy--I mean, what's a
revel--but a great big game? Isn't that right?"

"Well," Bette said doubtfully, "I guess so. Sure, Lord Dionysus, if you
say so."

"Well, sure it is!" Forrester said. "Fun and games! So we'll play a
little game. Ha-ha."

Kathy looked up at him brightly. "What kind of game, Lord Dionysus?" she
asked in an innocent tone. She was an extravagantly pretty brunette with
bright brown eyes, and she had been one of the two he had held in his
arms during the Procession back from the uptown end of the park.
Thinking it over now, Forrester wasn't entirely sure whether he had
chosen her or she had chosen him, but it didn't really seem to matter,
after all.

"Well, now," he said, "it's going to be a game of pure chance. Chance
and nothing more."

"Like luck," Bette contributed.

"That's right--uh--Bets," Forrester said. "Like luck. And I promise not
to use my powers to affect the outcome. Fair enough, isn't it?"

"Certainly," Kathy said demurely.