a quarter past eleven
To judge by the extraordinary interest displayed by these people , one might have thought that they expected to reap some great benefit or to sustain some great loss from the result , but of course that was not the case , for most of them knew perfectly well that the result of this election would make no more real difference to them than all the other elections that had gone before . They wondered what the figures would be . There were ten thousand voters on the register . At a quarter past eleven the sign was illuminated , but the figures were not yet shown . Next , the names of the two candidates were slid into sight , the figures were still missing , but D'Encloseland 's name was on top , and a hoarse roar of triumph came from the throats of his admirers . Then the two slides with the names were withdrawn , and the sign was again left blank . After a time the people began to murmur at all this delay and messing about , and presently some of them began to groan and hoot .