five in the
afternoon
After several challenges , made with much sagacity by the defence under advice of the Marquis de Chargeboeuf , who boldly took a seat beside Bordin and de Grandville , the jury were empanelled , the indictment was read , and the prisoners were brought up separately to be examined . They answered every question with remarkable unanimity . After riding about the forest all the morning they had returned to Cinq-Cygne for breakfast at one o'clock . After that meal , from three to half-past five in the afternoon , they had returned to the forest . That was the basis of each testimony ; any variations were merely individual circumstances . When the president asked the Messieurs de Simeuse why they had ridden out so early , they both declared that wishing , since their return , to buy back Gondreville and intending to make an offer to Malin who had arrived the night before , they had gone out early with their cousin and Michu to make certain examinations of the property on which to base their offer . During that time the Messieurs d'Hauteserre , their cousin , and Gothard had chased a wolf which was reported in the forest by the peasantry .