MRF2

Title: Jeepers Creepers
Author: Greer Watson
Books: The Charioteer
Characters: Mr Jepson, Ralph Lanyon
Length: 1118 words
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and make no profit by them.
Author's Note: For Part One, please see either the version on the maryrenaultfics community or the one in the The Collected ITOWverse.

He strode across the grass, looking neither left nor right, heading through the throng in search of somewhere private where he could fume uninterrupted. Sadly, he found that people—total strangers all of them—seemed to be everywhere. He headed away from the main throng; but, even in the depth of the exotic garden, he kept coming across them, chatting in twos and threes or looking singly at the display of out-of-season flowers. Finally, though, the exercise wore out his anger.

He was tempted simply to leave. However, he was also aware that Mr Reynolds, the Head, had intimated that his attendence was mandatory. It occurred to him that perhaps it would be best to follow his original course, head back to that extraordinarily gaudy tent, and indulge in some of the food on offer. Much time could be passed, if he contrived to eat sufficiently slowly—or eat more than he should (which, he had to admit would not be difficult); and he could thus busy himself with his plate, and justify, or at least seem to justify, his failure to mingle. Besides, he felt a growing internal urgency in the digestive department.
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