noon
Nay , when he turned to it , he found that it still stood so expressed in the Charter of the Order , and that each new Knight , upon admission thereto , swore solemnly to keep and observe the same -- so help him God -- faithfully unto his life 's end . If he had had any doubt before , the terms of that oath , which he himself had taken -- probably without understanding it since it had been read to him in Latin -- were sufficient to decide him . Without loss of time he sent word by his Comptroller-General to the Prime Minister that he intended in the following week to revive the full ceremony and to recall the Knights of the Thorn to the duties they had so long neglected . The ceremony , as of old , was to take place in public at noon outside the doors of the metropolitan cathedral . `` The King is going off his head , '' said the Comptroller-General by way of preface to the announcement with which he was charged ; and the Prime Minister was ready to agree with him when he heard it . `` Preposterous ! '' he exclaimed .