seven o'clock
` Else for what will these boys have given their lives ! -- what meaning in the suffering and the agony ! -- or in the world which permits and begets them ? ' Then , at last , it was past seven o'clock . The dusk had fallen , and the stars were coming out in a pure pale blue , over the leafless trees . Elizabeth and Alice Gaddesden stood waiting at the open door of the hall . A motor ambulance was meeting the train .