midnight
Camors , apprised from within by some understood signal , entered the enclosure surrounding the cottage of Mesnil , and thence proceeded to the garden belonging to the house . Madame de Campvallon always charged herself with the peril that charmed her -- with keeping open one of the windows on the ground floor . The Parisian custom of lodging the domestics in the attics gave to this hardihood a sort of security , notwithstanding its being always hazardous . Near the end of May , one of these occasions , always impatiently awaited on both sides , presented itself , and M. de Camors at midnight penetrated into the little garden of the old ` sous-officier ' . At the moment when he turned the key in the gate of the enclosure , he thought he heard a slight sound behind him . He turned , cast a rapid glance over the dark space that surrounded him , and thinking himself mistaken , entered . An instant after , the shadow of a man appeared at the angle of a pile of lumber , which was scattered over the carpenter 's yard .