nine
o’clock
`` There must be a good deal of confusion in the house , Schmucke ; if the porter is at death 's door , we are almost free for a minute or two ; that is to say , there will be no spies -- for we are watched , you may be sure of that . Go out , take a cab , go to the theatre , and tell Mlle. Heloise Brisetout that I should like to see her before I die . Ask her to come here to-night when she leaves the theatre . Then go to your friends Brunner and Schwab and beg them to come to-morrow morning at nine o'clock to inquire after me ; let them come up as if they were just passing by and called in to see me . '' The old artist felt that he was dying , and this was the scheme that he forged . He meant Schmucke to be his universal legatee . To protect Schmucke from any possible legal quibbles , he proposed to dictate his will to a notary in the presence of witnesses , lest his sanity should be called in question and the Camusots should attempt upon that pretext to dispute the will .