nearly ten o'clock
Peace came , and a silver moon gave forth a soft light , which embalmed the old thoroughfare , and added a tenderness to its workaday dignity . In only one window was there a light at three o'clock . It was the window of Ian Stafford 's sitting-room . He had not left the Foreign Office till nearly ten o'clock , then had had a light supper at his club , had written letters there , and after a long walk up and down the Mall had , with reluctant feet , gone to his chambers . The work which for years he had striven to do for England had been accomplished . The Great Understanding was complete . In the words of the secretary of the American Embassy , `` Mennaval had delivered the goods , '' and an arrangement had been arrived at , completed this very night , which would leave England free to face her coming trial in South Africa without fear of trouble on the flank or in the rear .