twelve o'clock
I 'll be as good as gold ! '' She kisses Margaret fondly , and leaves the room . Outside , in the long corridor , the lamps are beginning to burn dimly . It is already twelve o'clock . Twelve strokes from the hall beneath fall upon Tita 's ear as she goes hurriedly towards her own room . It is the midnight hour , the mystic hour , when ghosts do take their nightly rounds ! This is not a ghost , however , this tall young man , who , coming up by the central staircase , meets her now face to face .