Booth's Day on April 14

[Dennis Urban]

It is certainly possible that Rathbone was so absorbed by the play (as he said) that he did not notice JWB until it was too late. In that case, he may not have wanted to admit he saw him, however briefly, beforehand. A little of both is probably the case. Rathbone had not previously been to the theatre with the Lincolns and probably had not been in a box at Ford's so he would not necessarily be aware that visitors to the box were reasonably common. He could easily ignore/dismiss the second visitor of the evening. No doubt he was overtaken by such second-guessing for the rest of his life.