four o'clock in the afternoon
Dumb with misery the crowd looked on . All through the day the ambulances had been arriving , and all day long the ragged throng whimpered and shivered by the barriers . At noon the crowd was increased ten-fold , filling the squares about the gates , and swarming over the inner fortifications . At four o'clock in the afternoon the German batteries suddenly wreathed themselves in smoke , and the shells fell fast on Montparnasse . At twenty minutes after four two projectiles struck a house in the rue de Bac , and a moment later the first shell fell in the Latin Quarter . Braith was painting in bed when West came in very much scared . `` I wish you would come down ; our house has been knocked into a cocked hat , and I 'm afraid that some of the pillagers may take it into their heads to pay us a visit to-night . ''