twelve
o’clock
To tell you the truth , I do n't think it would be worthy of my reputation to quarrel on such a subject . As to your gentleman-friend , he may take himself off , wherever he likes best . If he falls in my way , I shall tell him my mind ; if he do n't fall in my way , I sha n't , for it wo n't be worth my while to do it . As to your daughter , whom I made Loo Bounderby , and might have done better by leaving Loo Gradgrind , if she do n't come home to-morrow , by twelve o'clock at noon , I shall understand that she prefers to stay away , and I shall send her wearing apparel and so forth over here , and you 'll take charge of her for the future . What I shall say to people in general , of the incompatibility that led to my so laying down the law , will be this . I am Josiah Bounderby , and I had my bringing-up ; she 's the daughter of Tom Gradgrind , and she had her bringing-up ; and the two horses would n't pull together . I am pretty well known to be rather an uncommon man , I believe ; and most people will understand fast enough that it must be a woman rather out of the common , also , who , in the long run , would come up to my mark . '