Twelve o’clock
Bets are offered on any side to any amount , but there are no takers . ` Professor Woodensconce has just called `` woman ; '' but the coin having lodged in a beam , is a long time coming down again . The interest and suspense of this one moment are beyond anything that can be imagined . ' ` _ Twelve o'clock _ . ` The mulled port is smoking on the table before me , and Professor Grime has won . Tossing is a game of chance ; but on every ground , whether of public or private character , intellectual endowments , or scientific attainments , I can not help expressing my opinion that Professor Woodensconce _ ought _ to have come off victorious . There is an exultation about Professor Grime incompatible , I fear , with true greatness . '