nine o'clock
But all was surprisingly quiet , for this crowd , tired out with an all-night watch , chilled by the bitter cold , and intent on what lay before them , had no energy left for useless effort . Only from packed square and street and lane went up a deep , steady murmur like the sound of the sea a mile away , broken now and again by the hoot and clang of a motor and the rush of its passage as it tore eastwards round the circle through Broad Sanctuary and vanished citywards . And the light broadened and the electric globes sickened and paled , and the haze began to clear a little , showing , not the fresh blue that had been hoped for from the cold of the night , but a high , colourless vault of cloud , washed with grey and faint rose-colour , as the sun came up , a ruddy copper disc , beyond the river . * * * * * At nine o'clock the excitement rose a degree higher . The police between Whitehall and the Abbey , looking from their high platforms strung along the route , whence they kept watch and controlled the wire palisadings , showed a certain activity , and a minute later a police-car whirled through the square between the palings , and vanished round the Abbey towers . The crowd murmured and shuffled and began to expect , and a cheer was raised when a moment later four more cars appeared , bearing the Government insignia , and disappeared in the same direction . These were the officials , they said , going to Dean 's Yard , where the procession would assemble .