The band again gave a flourish. The frightened Geisha longed to run away. But she was jostled along and led forward. Veriga, with an amiable smile, handed her the fan. The colours of the variegated costumes glimmered before Sasha's eyes, which were half dimmed by fear and confusion. He would have to return thanks, he thought. The habitual politeness of a well-bred boy showed itself. The Geisha made a curtsy, said something indistinctly, laughed slightly and lifted her fingers--and again in the room rose a furious uproar of whistling and abuse. Everyone made a rush for the Geisha. The savage and dishevelled Ear of Corn cried: "Make a curtsy, you little beast!" The Geisha threw herself towards the door, but her way was barred. From the crowd which seethed around the Geisha came malignant outcries: "Make her unmask!" "Mask off!" "Catch her! Hold her!" "Tear it off!" "Take her fan away!" The Ear of Corn shouted: "Do you know who got the prize? Kashtanova, the actress! She stole someone else's husband, and yet she gets the prize! They don't give it to honest women, they give it to that creature!" And she threw herself towards the Geisha, with piercing screams, clenching her bony fists. Others came after her, mostly her cavaliers. The Geisha fought them off desperately. A wild tussle began. The fan was broken, torn out of her hands, thrown on the floor and trodden upon. The crowd, with the Geisha in the middle, swayed furiously across the room, sweeping onlookers from their feet. Neither the Routilovs nor the Club stewards could reach the Geisha. The Geisha, strong and alert, screamed piercingly, scratched and bit her assailants. She held her mask on tightly now with one hand, now with the other. "They ought all to be beaten," screeched some spiteful little woman. The tipsy Grushina, hiding behind the others, urged on Volodin and other acquaintances. "Pinch her! Pinch the creature!" she shouted. Machigin, holding his bleeding nose, jumped out from the crowd and complained: "She hit me straight in the nose with her fist!" A vicious young man caught the Geisha's sleeve in his teeth and tore it in half. The Geisha cried out: "Help! Save me!" And others began to tear her costume. Here and there her body showed slightly. Darya and Liudmilla struggled desperately, trying to squeeze through to the Geisha, but in vain. Volodin plucked at the Geisha so zealously, screamed and cut such capers that he hindered other people less drunk than himself and more spiteful: he did not attack her from spite but from drunken joy, imagining that some very amusing farce was going on. He tore one sleeve clean off the Geisha's dress and he tied it round his head. "It'll come in useful," he shouted, laughing and grimacing. Getting out of the thick of the crowd, he went on making a fool of himself in the open space, and danced over the pieces of the fan with wild squeals. There was no one to restrain him. Peredonov looked at him in dread and thought: