eleven
o’clock
This was no normal state of things at the Academy of Bertrand des Amis . Whatever else in Paris might have been at a standstill lately , the fencing academy had flourished as never hitherto . Usually both the master and his assistant were busy from morning until dusk , and already Andre-Louis was being paid now by the lessons that he gave , the master allowing him one half of the fee in each case for himself , an arrangement which the assistant found profitable . On Sundays the academy made half-holiday ; but on this Sunday such had been the state of suspense and ferment in the city that no one having appeared by eleven o'clock both des Amis and Andre-Louis had gone out . Little they thought as they lightly took leave of each other -- they were very good friends by now -- that they were never to meet again in this world . Bloodshed there was that day in Paris . On the Place Vendome a detachment of dragoons awaited the crowd out of which Andre-Louis had slipped .