midday
The inhabitants were deeply apprehensive of their treatment by the Prussians since seeing what had occurred in Hanover . On the evening of the battle , as we have said , the news of the disaster had reached Frankfort , and from the next day , the 15th , the conviction that its occupation would be immediate had cast an aspect of mourning over the town . Not a single person was to be seen on the fashionable promenade . The Prussians , so it was said , would make their entry on the 16th after midday . Night came , and with it a strange solitude in the streets , where , if one met a wayfarer it was evident from his hurry that he was on urgent business , carrying perhaps jewels or valuables for deposit at one of the foreign legations . At an early hour the houses had been shut up . Behind the bolted doors and windows one guessed that the inmates were silently digging holes for the concealment of their treasures .