The theatres were just ending and crowds of theatre-goers in their fine evening clothes were coming out on to the wet streets. In Covent Garden, rich londoners were leaving the Royal Opera House and walking across Covent Garden square, looking for taxis. Some of them stopped and stood talking together for a few minutes in front of St Paul's Church, on one side of the square. Near the church a group of fruit- and vegetable-sellers were warming themselves round a small fire before they started their night's work at Covent Graden market.