nine o'clock
Great throngs of people flocked the streets long before the hour set for the signing of the decree that was to divide the north from the south . There were men and women from the mountains , from the southern valleys , from the plains to the north and east . Sullen were the mutterings , threatening the faces , resentful the hearts of those who crowded the shops , the public places and the streets . Before nine o'clock the great concourse of people began to push toward the castle . Castle Avenue was packed with the moving masses . Thousands upon thousands of this humbled race gathered outside the walls , waiting for news from the castle with the spark of hope that does not die until the very end , nursing the possibility that something might intervene at the last moment to save the country from disgrace and ruin . A strong guard was required to keep the mob back from the gates , and the force of men on the wall had been quadrupled .