but for all the gossip , we have been unable to find out who attended this strange evening affair , except that we know lionel was in attendance , and that cortland and his son pierce were also there ( pierce was only seventeen at the time and a student at the jesuits he had already been accepted to harvard ) we know also from family gossip that the gathering lasted all night , and that some time before it was over lionel 'left in disgust ' cousins who attended and would say nothing of what happened were much criticized by the others society gossip , filtered through dandrich , thought it was stella playing on her 'black magic past ' and that it was all a big game .