six o'clock
And thus it was that for the second time Margot Fresquyl yielded to the mortal sin of love . `` It is certain , '' Sulpice de Laurièr said , `` that I had absolutely forgotten the date on which I was to allow myself to be taken in the very act , with a mistress for the occasion . As neither my wife nor I had any serious nor plausible reason for a divorce , not even the slightest incompatibility of temper , and as there is always a risk of not softening the heart of even the most indulgent judge when he is told that the parties have agreed to drag their load separately , each for themselves , that they are too frisky , too fond of pleasure and of wandering about from place to place to continue the conjugal experiment , we between us got up the ingenious stage arrangement of , ` a serious wrong ... ' `` This was funnier than all the rest , and under any other circumstances it would have been repugnant to me to mix up our servants in the affair like so many others do , or to distress that pretty little , fair and delicate Parisian woman , even though it were only in appearance and to pass as a common _ Sganarelle _ with the manners of a carter , in the eyes of some scoundrel of a footman , or of some lady 's maid . And so when Maître Le Chevrier , that kind lawyer who certainly knows more female secrets than the most fashionable confessor , gave a startled exclamation on seeing me still in my dressing-gown , and slowly smoking a cigar like an idler who has no engagements down on his tablets , and who is quietly waiting for the usual time for dressing and going to dine at his club , he exclaimed : '' ` Have you forgotten that this is the day , at the _ Hôtel de Bade _ , between five and six o'clock ? In an hour , Madame de Laurière will be at the office of the Police Commissary in the Rue de Provence , with her uncle and Maître Cantenac ... ' `` An hour ; I only had an hour , sixty short minutes to dress in , to take a room , find a woman and persuade her to go with me immediately , and to excite her feelings , so that this extravagant adventure might not appear too equivocal to the Commissary of Police . One hour in which to carry out such a program was enough to make a man lose his head . And there were no possible means of putting off that obligatory entertainment , to let Madame Le Laurière know in time , and to gain a few minutes more . ''