Morning rehearsals, afternoon rehearsals, fitting of costumes, visits with the dressmaker came and went. Fancy played her part in The Blind Boy, reviewed her lines for The Busybody and The Successful Husband. The crowds continued to riot. It seemed to Fancy that nothing would be right again. Placards and banners hung everywhere. Fruit, eggs, peas showered upon the stage. Bow Street Runners, lent to the managers, sat among the crowds armed with bludgeons and from time to time charged and overwhelmed some particular rioter before they dragged him off to prison. The pugilists, under the direction of Dutch Sam and Mendoza, also attacked the rioters. But it was like trying to hold back the ocean with a meager strip of sand. The swell of rioters rose and fell, pushing out around those intent on restraining them. And to Fancy’s horrified eyes it seemed that for every rioter that was dragged away two more magically appeared to add to the general harassment. Every evening Castleford and Morgane appeared in their box.
