four o'clock in
the morning
The envelope contained fifty thousand-franc notes . This theatrical stroke was not at all calculated to allay the universal comment . But an event soon occurred which provided any amount of additional excitement . Two days later , the people living in the same house as Mme. Dugrival and her nephew were awakened , at four o'clock in the morning , by horrible cries and shrill calls for help . They rushed to the flat . The porter succeeded in opening the door . By the light of a lantern carried by one of the neighbours , he found Gabriel stretched at full-length in his bedroom , with his wrists and ankles bound and a gag forced into his mouth , while , in the next room , Mme. Dugrival lay with her life 's blood ebbing away through a great gash in her breast .