six o'clock
`` If that 's so , '' said Bunce , triumphantly , `` a man 's duty 's clear enough . He ought to go , though he 'd two wives and families . '' And he went . The petition was to be presented at six o'clock , but the crowd , who collected to see it carried into Westminster Hall , began to form itself by noon . It was said afterwards that many of the houses in the neighbourhood of Palace Yard and the Bridge were filled with soldiers ; but if so , the men did not show themselves . In the course of the evening three or four companies of the Guards in St. James 's Park did show themselves , and had some rough work to do , for many of the people took themselves away from Westminster by that route . The police , who were very numerous in Palace Yard , had a hard time of it all the afternoon , and it was said afterwards that it would have been much better to have allowed the petition to have been brought up by the procession on Wednesday .