twelve o’clock
`` Why , Mr. Mason , how selfishly I 've been acting , have n't I ? You really must forgive me . It is so funny , too , making you beg for a seat in your own canoe . '' `` Oh no , it 's your canoe -- that is , after twelve o'clock to-night . That 's when your contract begins . '' `` The arrangement does not seem to me quite regular ; but , then , this is the Canadian woods , and not Boston . But , I want to make my little proviso .