midnight
Certain , therefore , of finding the rather voluminous memorandum which he had seen , together with its copy , in some corner of the study , he searched through the boxes one after another until he finally came upon the fatal list . He carried it in hot haste to an autograph-printing house , where he obtained two pressed copies of the memorandum , showing , of course , Rabourdin 's own writing . Anxious not to arouse suspicion , he had gone very early to the office and replaced both the memorandum and Sebastien 's copy in the box from which he had taken them . Sebastien , who was kept up till after midnight at Madame Rabourdin 's party , was , in spite of his desire to get to the office early , preceded by the spirit of hatred . Hatred lived in the rue Saint-Louis-Saint-Honore , whereas love and devotion lived far-off in the rue du Roi-Dore in the Marais . This slight delay was destined to affect Rabourdin 's whole career . Sebastien opened his box eagerly , found the memorandum and his own unfinished copy all in order , and locked them at once into the desk as Rabourdin had directed .