about sixteen o'clock
` Cardinal Malpas communicated it within five minutes of Cardinal Ruspoli , and the rest of the inquiries arrived before midnight . China reported it at twenty-three . ' '' `` Then when do you suppose the news was made public ? '' '' ` It was decided first at the secret London conference , yesterday , at about sixteen o'clock by our time . The Plenipotentiaries appear to have signed it at that hour . After that it was communicated to the world . It was published here half an hour past midnight . ' ''