ten o'clock
But General Manteuffel arrived and put on a tax , in his turn , of twenty-five million florins . Such a tax , if imposed upon eighteen million subjects , madam , would yield more milliards of coin than the whole world contains . Well , and at this very hour cannon are planted in the streets and on the positions that command the town . If the sum is not paid at ten o'clock to-day -- and it will not be paid , madam , it is impossible -- the city will be bombarded and given over to pillage , a neutral unwalled city , which has no gates , which has not defended itself and can not defend itself . '' `` And how comes it , my child , '' asked the queen , `` that you , a woman , have taken upon yourself to ask justice for this city ? It has a Council . '' `` It has one no longer , madam ; the Council has been dissolved , and two of the councillors arrested . ''