three in the morning
Had I spoken then , they would have refused to believe that I was not the King ; they might have believed that the King had run mad . By Sapt 's devices and my own ungoverned passion I had been forced on , and the way back had closed behind me ; and the passion still drove me in the same direction as the devices seduced me . I faced all Strelsau that night as the King and the accepted suitor of the Princess Flavia . At last , at three in the morning , when the cold light of dawning day began to steal in , I was in my dressing-room , and Sapt alone was with me . I sat like a man dazed , staring into the fire ; he puffed at his pipe ; Fritz was gone to bed , having almost refused to speak to me . On the table by me lay a rose ; it had been in Flavia 's dress , and , as we parted , she had kissed it and given it to me . Sapt advanced his hand towards the rose , but , with a quick movement , I shut mine down upon it .