About two o’clock in the afternoon
she cried . `` I do n't know what is going on , but let us get back to Cinq-Cygne . '' While the happy party were employed in recovering the fortune saved by the old marquis , and guarded for so many years by Michu , an extraordinary scene was taking place in the chateau of Gondreville . About two o'clock in the afternoon Malin and his friend Grevin were playing chess before the fire in the great salon on the ground-floor . Madame Grevin and Madame Marion were sitting on a sofa and talking together at a corner of the fireplace . All the servants had gone to see the masquerade , which had long been announced in the arrondissement . The family of the bailiff who had replaced Michu had gone too .