ten o'clock
In any other circumstances she would have written to the queen , asked for an audience , and fulfilled all the requirements of etiquette . But there was no time to lose ; General von Roeder had allowed only four-and-twenty hours for the payment of the indemnity . It was due at ten o'clock , and in case of refusal the city was threatened with immediate pillage and bombardment . Notices at the corners of all the streets proclaimed that at ten o'clock on the morrow the general with his staff would be waiting in the old Senate Hall to receive the levy . There was , indeed , not a moment to lose . On leaving the train , therefore , Madame von Bülow took a cab and drove straight to the Little Palace , where the queen had been living since the beginning of the war . There Madame von Bülow asked for the chamberlain , Waals , who , as has been said already , was a friend of her husband 's ; he came instantly , and seeing her dressed all in black , cried out : `` Good God !