Nine o’clock
`` Very good , then . Be at my office at nine o'clock ; I 'll receive the money and give you your notes ; _ but _ , at half-past nine o'clock , they will be in the sheriff 's hands . '' `` To-night , then , at nine o'clock , '' said Theodose . `` Nine o'clock , '' repeated Desroches , whose glance had taken in the whole family , then assembled in the garden . Celeste , with red eyes , was talking to her godmother ; Colleville and Brigitte , Flavie and Thuillier were on the steps of the broad portico leading to the entrance-hall . Desroches remarked to Theodose , who followed him to the door : -- `` You can pay off those notes . '' At a single glance the shrewd attorney had comprehended the whole scheme of the barrister .