midnight
The Grand Duke Vodkakoff was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet . He was no lobster , no flat-fish . He did it now -- swift , secret , deadly -- a typical Muscovite . By midnight his staff had their orders . Those orders were for the stalls at the Lobelia . Price of entrance to the gallery and pit was served out at daybreak to the Eighth and Fifteenth Cossacks of the Don , those fierce , semi-civilised fighting-machines who know no fear . Grand Duke Vodkakoff 's preparations were ready .