Above the Dark Tumult: An Adventure

I had intended to catch Hench by the turn of the stair, but I was stopped by an extraordinary rout of revellers who were rushing, with shouts and cries of joy, past Osmund's door to a higher floor.

They were revellers of both sexes and were dressed, so far as I could see, in worshipful imitation of the ancient Greeks. I could not tell this with any certainty, partly because I was myself too seriously agitated by my own troubles to observe anything very closely, partly because they wore over their classical garments coats and wraps, partly because they were rushing forward with whoops and shouts up the stairs and round the corner.