seven
o'clock
They smiled sardonically in reply to the impotent signs of hatred , but they were glad when the castle gates closed between them and the vast , despairing crowd , in which the tempest of revolt was brewing with unmistakable energy . Prince Bolaroz , the Duke of Mizrox and the ministers were already in the castle and had been there since the previous afternoon . In the royal palace the excitement was intense , but it was of the subdued kind that strains the nerves to the point where control is martyrdom . When the attendants went to the bed chamber of the Princess at seven o'clock , as was their wont , they found , to their surprise , no one standing guard . The Princess was not in her chamber , nor had she been there during the night . The bed was undisturbed . In some alarm the two women ran to her parlor , then to the boudoir .