eight o'clock
At the last minute , he had a presentiment , which has been justified to-day , that the discovery of the telescope which had played so great a part in the preparation of his crime might serve as a clue to an enquiry ; and he threw it into the clock-case , where , as luck would have it , it interrupted the swing of the pendulum . This unreflecting action , one of those which every criminal inevitably commits , was to betray him twenty years later . Just now , the blows which I struck to force the door of the drawing-room released the pendulum . The clock was set going , struck eight o'clock ... and I possessed the clue of thread which was to lead me through the labyrinth . '' `` Proofs ! '' stammered Hortense . `` Proofs ! ''