twelve o'clock
`` You do n't understand business , Gilbert , '' said Mrs. Sclater . Gibbie smiled , got his writing-case , and sitting down at the table , wrote as follows : -- `` Dear Mr. Sclater , -- As you have never failed in your part , how can you wish me to fail in mine ? I am now the one accountable for this money , which surely has been idle long enough , and if I leave it still unused , I shall be doing wrong , and there are things I have to do with it which ought to be set about immediately . I am sorry to seem importunate , but if by twelve o'clock you have not gone with me to Mr. Torrie , I will go to Messrs. Hope & Waver , who will tell me what I ought to do next , in order to be put in possession . It makes me unhappy to write like this , but I am not a child any longer , and having a man 's work to do , I can not consent to be treated as a child . I will do as I say . I am , dear Mr. Sclater , your affectionate ward , Gilbert Galbraith . ''