seven o'clock
The act of going within doors or sitting down , seemed in some way to be a kind of cowardice , a species of shirking , or disloyalty . I remember Constance Grey assuring me that she had lain down for an hour on Thursday . I can say with certainty that we were both of us on our feet from that time until after the terms of the surrender were made known on Saturday evening . I can also say that no thought of this matter of physical weariness occurred to me until that period of Saturday evening -- soon after seven o'clock it was -- when the proclamations were posted up in Whitehall , and the special issues of the newspapers containing the peace announcements began to be hawked . An issue of the _ Standard _ , a single sheet , with broad black borders , was the first press announcement to reach the public ; and it contained a grave , closely reasoned address from the most famous statesman of the Opposition , urging upon the public the need vital of exercising the utmost cautiousness and self-restraint . `` England has been stricken to the earth , '' said this dignified statement . `` Her condition is critical .