ten at night
He first enquired of the servant what his son had been doing that afternoon ; whether he had had any quarrel on his own account , or interfered in any other ; whether he had been in any suspicious house . The lackey , who fancied his master in imminent danger , and thought he ought not to have any reserve in such an emergency , disclosed at once all that he knew of his connection with Manon , and of the expense he had gone to on her account ; the manner in which he had passed the afternoon with her until about nine o'clock , the circumstance of his leaving her , and the outrage he encountered on his return . This was enough to convince him that his son 's affair was a love quarrel . Although it was then at least half-past ten at night , he determined at once to call on the lieutenant of police . He begged of him to issue immediate orders to all the detachments that were out on duty , and he himself , taking some men with him , hastened to the street where his son had been stopped : he visited every place where he thought he might have a chance of finding him ; and not being able to discover the slightest trace of him , he went off to the house of his mistress , to which he thought he probably might by this time have returned . `` I was stepping into bed when he arrived . The door of the chamber being closed , I did not hear the knock at the gate , but he rushed into the house , accompanied by two archers of the guard , and after fruitless enquiries of the servants about his son , he resolved to try whether he could get any information from their mistress .