eight o’clock
`` The limit for bidding-in is passed , '' thought Theodose , as he went to find Dutocq and ask him to bring Cerizet to his office . `` Suppose I were now to make an effort to get rid of my leech ? '' `` You ca n't settle this affair anywhere but at Cerizet 's , because Claparon must be present , and he is hiding there , '' said Dutocq . Accordingly , Theodose went , between seven and eight o'clock , to the den of the `` banker of the poor , '' whom Dutocq had notified of his coming . Cerizet received him in the horrible kitchen where miseries and sorrows were chopped and cooked , as we have seen already . The pair then walked up and down , precisely like two animals in a cage , while mutually playing the following scene : -- `` Have you brought the fifteen thousand francs ? '' `` No , but I have them at home . ''