Chapter 46 Summary: Though She Be But Little She Is Fierce

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Freda, exhausted and hungry, seeking refuge in a Westminster public library. The idea had been planted by the owner of the Neal Street café, who had earlier told her the café wasn't a library. Cissy had suggested that Gwendolen might get Freda a job at York Library, and now that prospect seems appealing — she would happily shelve books all day if it meant food and a bed.

In the reference section, Freda picks a book at random and pretends to study it, tucking her suitcase beneath her feet. An elderly gentleman approaches and offers her paper and pencil so she can take notes. She spends the afternoon scribbling nonsense from Jane's Book of Fighting Ships to maintain the charade, wondering what people see in books (though she makes an exception for Greek myths). When a grim librarian advances, Freda gathers her belongings and curtseys to the gentleman in thanks — but as she passes, he reaches out and tries to touch her beneath her skirt. She shakes him off in disgust. The chapter notes that Freda sometimes feels as though everyone in the world wants to take a bite out of her.

She makes her way toward Covent Garden, hoping to beg an apple from a stallholder, but finds herself on Frith Street near the Vanbrugh Academy of Dance. The proximity to Miss Sherbourne — who had sent girls to audition at the Adelphi — is too much, and she turns and flees.

In Bow Street, she approaches a policeman to report Florence's disappearance. The policeman dismisses her, and when Chief Inspector Oakes passes by, the policeman calls her a tart looking for business. Oakes gives her a half-crown, telling her to get a hot meal. But the sergeant snatches the coin from her fingers and offers her a way to earn money instead, writing an address on a piece of paper and pressing it into her hand.

In Green Park, Freda spots a figure she believes is Florence — the broad shoulders, the plodding walk, the crocheted beret — and calls out her name repeatedly, projecting her voice as her theatre director taught her. But the figure plods on, and when Freda runs after her, boys jostle her and trip her, leaving her with a badly bruised knee. She doubts it was ever Florence; hunger must have fed her imagination.

Later, in a Piccadilly public convenience, she changes into her Peaseblossom costume from A Midsummer Night's Dream — a spangled green dress she had slipped into her bag after the last night of the production, minus the wings, which wouldn't fit. She recalls Florence's fairy lore: never eat or drink in fairyland, nothing is what it seems, the wine is pond scum and the peaches are snails. She reads the note from the policeman: Tisbury Court, number 26, two floors up, ask for Dame Wyburn. She knows what would happen to her there — girls are currency in the capital, bought and sold until worthless. She flushes the paper down the toilet. She is not that girl. She straightens her back and girded her loins.

Key Events

Freda takes refuge in a Westminster library and is preyed upon by an elderly man who lends her writing materials only to make an unwanted advance
She flees Frith Street to avoid Miss Sherbourne and the dance school
Her attempt to report Florence's disappearance to a Bow Street policeman is dismissed
Chief Inspector Oakes gives her a half-crown, which the sergeant immediately steals
The sergeant offers her work at an address on Tisbury Court, handing her a note
A false sighting of Florence in Green Park ends with Freda tripped by boys and bruised
She changes into her Peaseblossom costume in a Piccadilly public convenience
She reads the note, recognizes the danger, and flushes it down the toilet, refusing the offer

Character Development

Freda's resilience is tested throughout this chapter. She is hungry, exhausted, and alone, yet she refuses to be exploited. The library scene shows her vulnerability — she is so desperate for shelter that she endures a predatory advance — but also her quick disgust and refusal to accept it. Her attempt to report Florence's disappearance shows her loyalty and concern, even as the police dismiss her. The chapter's climax — flushing the note — is a moment of quiet defiance. She knows what the address means, and she chooses not to go. The chapter title, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, underscores her fierceness despite her smallness.

The police are portrayed as corrupt and predatory: the sergeant steals her coin and offers her to a brothel, while Oakes is kind but ineffectual. Florence's absence weighs heavily on Freda, who recalls their evenings wandering Soho together and Florence's fairy lore.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Exploitation of young women: The chapter is saturated with predatory men — the library gentleman, the police sergeant, the implied fate at Tisbury Court. Freda's observation that everyone wants to take a bite out of her captures this theme.

Hunger and poverty: Freda's physical hunger drives her decisions. She dreams of a chop or a pie, hopes to beg an apple, and wonders if she'll die of thirst or hunger first.

Police corruption: The sergeant's theft of the half-crown and his role as a procurer for a brothel show the police as complicit in the exploitation of women.

Fairyland as deceptive illusion: Florence's fairy lore — nothing is what it seems, wine is pond scum, peaches are snails — maps onto the Soho nightclub world. The glamour of the capital conceals danger.

Costume and identity: Freda's Peaseblossom costume — a fairy dress from A Midsummer Night's Dream — becomes her only finery. The costume connects her to the fairyland motif and to her theatrical past.

Defiance and resistance: Freda's refusal to go to Tisbury Court, her decision to flush the note, and her straightening of her back are acts of resistance against the commodification of her body.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a turning point for Freda. It shows her at her lowest — hungry, homeless, and alone in London — and it tests whether she will capitulate to the exploitation that surrounds her. Her refusal to go to Tisbury Court is a decisive act of self-preservation. The chapter also deepens the novel's critique of police corruption and the commodification of young women in postwar London. The fairyland motif, introduced through Florence's lore, connects Freda's personal story to the novel's broader themes of illusion and reality.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the chapter title connect to Freda's situation?

The title, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, describes Hermia — small but fierce. Freda, too, is physically small and vulnerable, but the chapter shows her fierceness: she shakes off the predatory library gentleman, she refuses the police sergeant's offer, and she flushes the note rather than submit to exploitation. Her Peaseblossom costume from the same play reinforces the connection.

2. What role does the fairyland motif play in this chapter?

Florence's fairy lore — never eat or drink in fairyland, nothing is what it seems — serves as a warning about the Soho nightclub world. The glamour of the capital, like fairyland, conceals danger. Freda's Peaseblossom costume connects her to this motif, and her refusal to go to Tisbury Court can be read as her refusal to be lured into a deceptive fairyland.

3. How does the chapter portray the police?

The police are shown as corrupt and complicit in exploitation. The sergeant dismisses Freda as a tart, steals her half-crown, and offers her work at a brothel. Oakes, the chief inspector, is kinder — he gives her money — but he doesn't intervene. The police are part of the system that commodities young women rather than protecting them.