midnight
It was eleven o'clock . The edict gave him twenty-four hours from the noon of that day . The gray old libertine despatched a messenger for his man of affairs , a lawyer of high standing in Edelweiss . Together they consulted until midnight . Shortly after daybreak the morning following . Count Marlanx was in the train for Vienna , never to set foot on Graustark 's soil again . He was banished and his estates confiscated by the government .