twelve o'clock
`` Oh , my dear , how _ could _ you ? '' she cried , reproachfully . `` Think of the agonies I 've been through . It 's almost twelve o'clock . '' The other woman did not look at her , nor did she return the caress . She walked into the room and sat down at her desk , with a strange appearance of haste , at which the nurse marvelled . Without waiting to take off her hat or coat , she seized a pen and paper and wrote these lines , marking them plainly : PERSONAL FOR INSERTION IN TO-MORROW 'S `` HERALD '' _ PHILIP .