three o'clock
And the man of iron saluted the heart-broken Chief of the shattered British Army . We prefer not to believe the report that this , the German Commander 's one act of gentleness and magnanimity in England , was subsequently paid for by the loss of a certain Imperial decoration . But , if the story was true , then the decoration it concerned was well lost . It was a grim , war-stained procession that followed General von Füchter when , between two and three o'clock , he rode with his staff by way of Ludgate Hill and the Strand to Carlton House Terrace . But the cavalry rode with drawn sabres , the infantry marched with fixed bayonets , and , though weariness showed in every line of the men 's faces , there was as yet no sign of relaxed tension . Throughout that evening and night the baggage wagons rumbled through London , without cessation , to the two main western encampments in Hyde Park . The whole of Pall Mall and Park Lane were occupied by German officers that night , few of the usual occupants of the clubs in the one thoroughfare , or the residences in the other , being then in London .