about eleven o'clock in the morning
`` It seems that at ten o'clock this morning , Monsieur Nanteuil accompanied the little hand-cart used for transferring the bullion and paper money to the station , from whence it was to be despatched . According to custom , six of the bank clerks and three plain clothes men went with Monsieur Nanteuil . But , at the very moment when the hand-cart passed out of the place de l'Opéra and turned the corner of the rue du Quatre Septembre , that is to say , at the precise moment when it was passing the palisade , surrounding the works on the Auteuil-Opéra Metropolitan line , a formidable explosion was heard , and the hand-cart , as well as the men who were drawing it , and escorting it , including Monsieur Nanteuil himself , disappeared in a deep excavation caused by the explosion , whilst a water pipe which had burst at the same moment , poured out torrents of water , flooding the surrounding pavement and roadway . `` It was then about eleven o'clock in the morning , and the rue du Quatre Septembre presented a very animated appearance . At the noise of the explosion , the passers-by were glued to the spot , dazed , stupefied . Then exclamations broke out on all sides . '' ` An accident ? ' ''