half past ten o’clock
Monsieur Ragon wished to accompany his debtor . When the former master of `` The Queen of Roses '' first made known the wish in his little dry voice , his ex-successor turned pale ; but the good old man opened his arms , and Birotteau threw himself into them as a child into the arms of its father , and the two perfumers mingled their tears . The bankrupt gathered courage as he felt the indulgences shown to him , and he got into the coach with his uncle and Ragon . Precisely at half past ten o'clock the three reached the cloister Saint-Merri , where the Court of Commerce was then held . At that hour there was no one in the Hall of Bankruptcy . The day and the hour had been chosen by agreement with the judge and the assignees . The three solicitors were already there on behalf of their clients .