eight o'clock in the
evening
There was no laughter to be heard , no loud calling , no gay and animated badinage . People who met and stopped conversed in undertones ; gestures were sober and rare . And everywhere , in the intense stillness , Red Cross flags hung motionless in the late afternoon sunshine ; everywhere were posted notices warning the Republic of general mobilisation -- on dead walls , on tree-boxes , on kiosques , on bulletin boards , on the façades of public and ecclesiastical buildings . Another ordinance which Neeland could read from where he stood at the window warned all citizens from the streets after eight o'clock in the evening ; and on the closed iron shutters of every shop in sight of his window were pasted white strips of paper bearing , in black letters , the same explanation : '' _ Fermé à cause de la mobilisation . _ '' Nowhere could he see the word `` war '' printed or otherwise displayed . The conspiracy of silence concerning it seemed the more ominous . Nor , listening , could he hear the sinister voices of men and boys calling extra editions of the papers .