twelve o'clock
`` Let it pass , '' said Mr. Monk in a whisper to Phineas . `` The fire is not worth the fuel . '' `` I know the Duke 's faults , '' said Phineas ; `` but these men know nothing of his virtues , and when I hear them abuse him I can not stand it . '' Early in the night , -- before twelve o'clock , -- the House divided , and even at the moment of the division no one quite knew how it would go . There would be many who would of course vote against the amendment as being simply desirous of recording their opinion in favour of the Bill generally . And there were some who thought that Sir Orlando and his followers had been too forward , and too confident of their own standing in the House , in trying so violent a mode of opposition . It would have been better , these men thought , to have insured success by a gradual and persistent opposition to the Bill itself .