midnight
Benedict took the paper and read it : `` By order of the colonel in command of the town and as a measure of public safety , M. Benedict Turpin is instructed to leave Frankfort instantly upon receipt of the present order . Should he refuse to obey willingly , force is to be employed . Six privates and an officer will accompany him to the station , enter the same carriage in the Cologne train and only leave him at the frontier of the Prussian territory . `` This order to be carried out before midnight . `` Signed *** . '' Benedict looked round ; he had no possible means of resistance . `` Sir , '' said he , `` if I had any way of escaping from the order that I have just read , I declare to you that I would do anything in the world to get out of your hands .