twelve o’clock
At one time he was busy with the natural sciences , then he would ask for Byron or Shakespeare . There were notes in which he demanded at the same time books on chemistry , and a manual of medicine , and a novel , and some treatise on philosophy or theology . His reading suggested a man swimming in the sea among the wreckage of his ship , and trying to save his life by greedily clutching first at one spar and then at another . The old banker remembered all this , and thought : `` To-morrow at twelve o'clock he will regain his freedom . By our agreement I ought to pay him two millions . If I do pay him , it is all over with me : I shall be utterly ruined . '' Fifteen years before , his millions had been beyond his reckoning ; now he was afraid to ask himself which were greater , his debts or his assets .