twelve
o'clock
Yours respeckfully , Solomon Moggs . '' `` Oh , a precious lot of respect indeed , '' cried Lavinia angrily . The date of the letter was that of the day before . The money had consequently to be paid that very day and it was already past twelve o'clock . If the poor young man could not pay he would at that moment be homeless in the street and maybe arrested for debt and taken to the Fleet or even Newgate . Had n't she seen the poor starving debtors stretch their hands through the `` Debtors ' door '' in the Old Bailey and beg for alms from the passers-by with which to purchase food ? She pictured the poor young man going through this humiliation and it made her shudder .