five o'clock
Lock the door when you come in , Leonard . '' From the darkness they saw his mother 's form silhouetted against the light inside . She started as if to come toward them , and then suddenly shut the door and left them alone together in the white night . A thick yellow fog lay over London ; at five o'clock in the Victoria Station the dawn had not penetrated , and the great globes of electricity in the murky ceiling shed an uncertain light . Through the usual somber and preoccupied din of the early morning traffic , came the steady , rhythmic tread of marching feet . Lost in the smoke and fog , a band was playing `` Rule Britannia . '' Marjorie and Leonard were standing in the very centre of the vast dingy shed .