ten o'clock in the morning
Between May and September the armies marched and counter-marched , walked up to each other and withdrew with every expression of defiance . No important action was fought , though for some time less than a league divided their hostility . William , whose patience was worn out almost sooner than the shoe-leather of his subjects , left the command in Marlborough 's hands , and retired to his park at Loo , whence , in the beginning of July , he posted to The Hague to attend a meeting of the States-General . On the 17th day of that month , and at ten o'clock in the morning -- at which time the King was taking the air in his famous park on the outskirts of the town -- a couple of old gentlemen were advancing upon The Hague from the westward , along the old Scheveningen road . They walked slowly , by reason of their years , but with a certain solemnity of pace which indicated that , in their own opinion at least , they were bound upon an errand of importance . At intervals they paused to mop their faces ; and at every pause they regarded the landscape with contempt . One of these old gentlemen was thin and wiry , with a jaw that protruded like a bulldog 's .