about twelve o'clock
Had they been nursemaids or servant girls , I should have expected it . The worship of Mars by the Venus of the white cap is one of the few vital religions left to this devoutless age . A year or two ago I lodged near a barracks , and the sight to be seen round its huge iron gates on Sunday afternoons I shall never forget . The girls began to assemble about twelve o'clock . By two , at which hour the army , with its hair nicely oiled and a cane in its hand , was ready for a stroll , there would be some four or five hundred of them waiting in a line . Formerly they had collected in a wild mob , and as the soldiers were let out to them two at a time , had fought for them , as lions for early Christians . This , however , had led to scenes of such disorder and brutality , that the police had been obliged to interfere ; and the girls were now marshalled in _ queue _ , two abreast , and compelled , by a force of constables specially told off for the purpose , to keep their places and wait their proper turn .