five o'clock
I thus made sure that Theodore could not follow me . I then walked to Passy -- a matter of two kilometres -- and by four o'clock I had the satisfaction of stowing the papers safely away under one of the tiles in the flooring of my room , and then pulling the strip of carpet in front of my bed snugly over the hiding-place . Theodore 's attic , where he slept , was at the top of the house , whilst my room was on the ground floor , and so I felt that I could now go back quite comfortably to my office in the hope that more remunerative work and more lavish clients would come my way before nightfall . It was a little after five o'clock when I once more turned the key in the outer door of my rooms in the Rue Daunou . Theodore did not seem in the least to resent having been locked in for two hours . I think he must have been asleep most of the time . Certainly I heard a good deal of shuffling when first I reached the landing outside the door ; but when I actually walked into the apartment with an air of quiet unconcern Theodore was sprawling on the chair-bedstead , with eyes closed , a nose the colour of beetroot , and emitting sounds through his thin , cracked lips which I could not , Sir , describe graphically in your presence .