seven
o'clock
Once more I was back in the thick of it all , and till the closing of the poll at eight o'clock I strove , in company with Cash , Robin , and others , to direct the inclinations of my constituents into the proper channels . The tumult increased as the evening advanced . More snow had fallen during the afternoon , and outlying electors were being conveyed to the scene of action with the utmost difficulty . People were voting at seven o'clock who had intended to get it done and be home by six ; and as time wore on it was seen that there would be a desperate rush of business right up till closing time . Every one was in high spirits . That potent factor in British politics , the electioneering egg , had been entirely superseded by the snowball , and the youth of Stoneleigh , massed in the public square outside the Town Hall , were engaged , with a lofty indifference to party distinctions that would have been sublime if it had not been so painful , in an untrammelled bombardment of all who crossed their path . At length the Cathedral chimed out the hour of eight , and the poll closed .