eleven o’clock in the morning
But it was at the headquarters of police that the excitement developed into a paroxysm . Men flung themselves about on every side . Messages , telegrams , telephone calls followed one upon the other . At last , at eleven o'clock in the morning , there was a meeting in the office of the prefect of police , and Prasville was there . The chief-detective read a report of his inquiry , the results of which amounted to this : shortly before midnight yesterday some one had rung at the house on the Boulevard Arago . The portress , who slept in a small room on the ground-floor , behind one of the shops pulled the rope . A man came and tapped at her door .