twelve
o’clock
``` `` At twelve o'clock . '' ``` `` Is Madame la Comtesse ill ? '' ``` `` No , sir , but she only came home at three o'clock this morning from a ball . '' ``` `` My name is Gobseck , tell her that I shall call again at twelve o'clock , '' and I went out , leaving traces of my muddy boots on the carpet which covered the paved staircase . I like to leave mud on a rich man 's carpet ; it is not petty spite ; I like to make them feel a touch of the claws of Necessity . In the Rue Montmartre I thrust open the old gateway of a poor-looking house , and looked into a dark courtyard where the sunlight never shines . The porter 's lodge was grimy , the window looked like the sleeve of some shabby wadded gown -- greasy , dirty , and full of holes .