a quarter before twelve
`` Your true partner , `` J. PINKERTON . '' Number two was in a different style : -- `` My dearest Loudon , how am I to prepare you for this dire intelligence ? O dear me , it will strike you to the earth . The Fiat has gone forth ; our firm went bust at a quarter before twelve . It was a bill of Bradley 's -LRB- for $ 200 -RRB- that brought these vast operations to a close , and evolved liabilities of upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand . O , the shame and pity of it ! and you but three weeks gone !