about twelve
o'clock
`` You may believe them this time , '' said I , `` for you certainly did sing a song . The air was very fine , and I have no doubt the words were equally so , if we could only have understood them . '' `` Well thin , '' replied he , `` but I niver heard more than that ; and if I raaly did sing , I may as well tell yee 's how it happint . I dramed , ye see , that I was at a ball in Ireland , an ' I thought that about twelve o'clock we got tired wid dancin and sated ourselves on the binches which were ranged round the walls uv the room , and ache one was to sing a song in their turn , an ' its I that thought my turn had come for sure . '' `` Well Terry , '' said I , `` you hit upon the time exact at any rate , for it was just twelve o'clock when you favoured us with the song . '' Soon after this time I left the neighbourhood , and removed to some distance . Terry remained for a considerable time with the same family ; after a time I learned that he had obtained employment in a distant village .