twelve o'clock
He picked up an envelope that lay on the centre-table and tore it open . He began to read the letter that he drew out of it ; and once having begun it aloud he so read it through to the end . These are the words that Editor Westbrook heard : `` Dear Shackleford : `` By the time you get this I will be about a hundred miles away and still a-going . I 've got a place in the chorus of the Occidental Opera Co. , and we start on the road to-day at twelve o'clock . I did n't want to starve to death , and so I decided to make my own living . I 'm not coming back . Mrs. Westbrook is going with me .