ten o’clock
All this racket , accompanied by exclamations and a bewildering loquacity , was so briskly carried out that the porter , if summoned before the police-court , would not have hesitated to swear that the doctor , whose arrival he had witnessed , left the house between nine and ten o'clock . When the two accomplices were thus in tranquil possession of the field of operations Madame Cardinal hung up her rabbit 's - hair shawl before the window to exclude all possible indiscretion on the part of a neighbor . In the Luxembourg quarter life quiets down early . By ten o'clock all the sounds in the house as well as those out of doors were stilled , and Cerizet declared that the moment had come to go to work ; by beginning at once they were certain that the sleeper would remain under the influence of the drug ; besides , if the booty were found at once , Madame Cardinal could , under pretence of a sudden attack on her patient , which required her to fetch a remedy from the apothecary , get the porter to open the street gate for her without suspicion . As all porters pull the gate-cord from their beds , Cerizet would be able to get away at the same time without notice . Powerful in advice , Cerizet was a very incapable hand in action ; and , without the robust assistance of Mere Cardinal he could never have lifted what might almost be called the corpse of the former drum-major . Completely insensible , Toupillier was now an inert mass , a dead-weight , which could , fortunately , be handled without much precaution , and the athletic Madame Cardinal , gathering strength from her cupidity , contrived , notwithstanding Cerizet 's insufficient assistance , to effect the transfer of her uncle from one bed to the other .