eight o’clock
Of all those who in the opening chapter of this veracious tale had assembled around the hospitable board of the Königs , barely a handful remained in `` the little garrison . '' The weeding-out machine had been set in motion by H. M. 's private military cabinet , and lo ! this was the result . It is past eight o'clock of an evening in December . A hurrying crowd is streaming on its way homeward through the arteries of a large and busy city . All the shop doors everywhere are being closed with a thundering noise , and the ear is assailed by the rattling of the iron shutters by which thievish hands are to be kept out during the night hours . The brilliant gas jets and the incandescent lights in the show-windows are turned off in increasing numbers .