nine o'clock
* * * * * `` The abduction , '' said Rénine to himself , `` precedes the blow of the hatchet by a week . I have , therefore , at the present moment , seven full days before me . Let us say six , to avoid any surprise . This is Saturday : Hortense must be set free by mid-day on Friday ; and , to make sure of this , I must know her hiding-place by nine o'clock on Thursday evening at latest . '' Rénine wrote , `` THURSDAY EVENING , NINE O'CLOCK , '' in big letters , on a card which he nailed above the mantelpiece in his study . Then at midday on Saturday , the day after the disappearance , he locked himself into the study , after telling his man not to disturb him except for meals and letters . He spent four days there , almost without moving .