the hour of eight
People were voting at seven o'clock who had intended to get it done and be home by six ; and as time wore on it was seen that there would be a desperate rush of business right up till closing time . Every one was in high spirits . That potent factor in British politics , the electioneering egg , had been entirely superseded by the snowball , and the youth of Stoneleigh , massed in the public square outside the Town Hall , were engaged , with a lofty indifference to party distinctions that would have been sublime if it had not been so painful , in an untrammelled bombardment of all who crossed their path . At length the Cathedral chimed out the hour of eight , and the poll closed . Cash hurried up to me . `` It 's going to be a desperately close thing , '' he said . `` The counting will begin at once , in the Mayor 's room on the first floor of the Town Hall .