Two o'clock
`` Boys , let us serenade the ladies ! '' The silver night wore on . So many of the `` boys '' had sisters , that there were many pretty ladies staying in the town or at the two or three pleasant old houses upon its outskirts . Two o'clock , three o'clock passed , and there were yet windows to sing beneath . Old love songs floated through the soft and dreamy air ; there was a sense of angelic beings in the unlit rooms above , even of the flutter of their wings . Then , at the music 's dying fall , flowers were thrown ; there seemed to descend a breath , a whisper , `` Adieu , heroes -- adored , adored heroes ! '' A scramble for the flowers , then out at the gate and on to the next house , and so _ da capo _ .