noon
The old column was gone , with its lions . Nelson had not been found advantageous to the _ Entente Cordiale _ , nor the lions to the new art ; and in their place stretched a wide pavement broken by slopes of steps that led up to the National Gallery . Overhead the roofs showed crowded friezes of heads against the blue summer sky . Not less than one hundred thousand persons , it was estimated in the evening papers , were collected within sight and sound of the platform by noon . As the clocks began to tell the hour , two figures appeared from behind the statue and came forward , and , in an instant , the murmurs of talk rose into cheering . Old Lord Pemberton came first , a grey-haired , upright man , whose father had been active in denouncing the House of which he was a member on the occasion of its fall over seventy years ago , and his son had succeeded him worthily . This man was now a member of the Government , and sat for Manchester -LRB- 3 -RRB- ; and it was he who was to be chairman on this auspicious occasion .