midnight
`` I do . '' `` Do n't you realize that , according to the technical stand you take , you have no more official right in this Capitol than I have , just now ? '' His Excellency 's silence , his stupefaction , suggested that his convictions as to Morrison 's lunacy were finally clinched . `` The constitution , that you have invoked , expressly provides that a Governor 's term of office expires at midnight , on the day preceding the assembling of the first session of the legislature . You will be Governor in the morning at ten-thirty o'clock , when you take your oath before the joint session . But by your own clock up there you ceased to be Governor of this state five minutes ago ! '' Morrison drawled that statement in a very placid manner .