three o’clock
`` The case can not be successfully defended , '' said Monsieur de Grandville . `` The less so , '' continued Bordin , `` because we can not tell the whole truth . Michu and the Messieurs de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre must hold to the assertion that you merely went for an excursion into the forest and returned to Cinq-Cygne for luncheon . Allowing that we can show you were in the house at three o'clock -LRB- the exact hour at which the attack was made -RRB- , who are our witnesses ? Marthe , the wife of one of the accused , the Durieus , and Catherine , your own servants , and Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre , father and mother of two of the accused . Such testimony is valueless ; the law does not admit it against you , and commonsense rejects it when given in your favor . If , on the other hand , you were to say you went to the forest to recover eleven hundred thousand francs in gold , you would send the accused to the galleys as robbers .