twelve o'clock
I had begun to lose my hold on reality . Silence , contemplation , a long-continued wrestle with the profound problems of life , were combining to break up the intimacy of life and matter , and my brain was not of the calibre to endure the strain . Challis saw at once what ailed me . He came up to the farm one morning at twelve o'clock . The date was , I believe , the twelfth of September . It was a brooding , heavy morning , with half a gale of wind blowing from the south-west , but it had not rained , and I was out with the Wonder when Challis arrived . He waited for me and talked to the flattered Mrs. Berridge , remonstrated kindly with her husband for his neglect of the farm , and incidentally gave him a rebate on the rent .