noon
`` Lieutenant , '' said the American , `` for the sake of a woman , a dead child and an unhappy king I have become dictator of Lutha for forty-eight hours ; but at noon upon the fifth this farce must cease . Then we must place the true Leopold upon the throne , or a new dictator must replace me . `` In vain I have tried to convince you that I am not the king , and today in the cathedral so great was the temptation to take advantage of the odd train of circumstances that had placed a crown within my reach that I all but surrendered to it -- not for the crown of gold , Butzow , but for an infinitely more sacred diadem which belongs to him to whom by right of birth and lineage , belongs the crown of Lutha . I do not ask you to understand -- it is not necessary -- but this you must know and believe : that I am not Leopold , and that the true Leopold lies in hiding in the sanatorium at Tafelberg , from which you and I , Butzow , must fetch him to Lustadt before noon on the fifth . '' `` But , sire -- '' commenced Butzow , when Barney raised his hand . `` Enough of that , Butzow ! '' he cried almost irritably .