eight o'clock
They laid a plan , and executed it with so much skill , that they reduced us to a state from which it was never afterwards possible for us to extricate ourselves . `` Having supped one evening at Lescaut 's , it was about midnight when we returned home . I asked for my valet , and Manon for her maid ; neither one nor the other could be found . They had not been seen in the house since eight o'clock , and had gone out , after having some cases carried before them , according to orders which they pretended to have received from me . I at once foresaw a part of the truth , but my suspicions were infinitely surpassed by what presented itself on going into my room . The lock of my closet had been forced , and my cash as well as my best clothes were gone . While I stood stupefied with amazement , Manon came , in the greatest alarm , to inform me that her apartment had been rifled in the same manner .