Bad Timing

Linden: I can’t remember the time with any precision.

Netusil: But I’m not asking you for the precise time. So could it have been half past twelve, perhaps? Ten, eleven, midnight.

Linden: No.

Netusil: You see. It wasn’t eleven and it wasn’t midnight. Could it have been one?

Linden: Wrong again.

Netusil: If you know I’m wrong, you must know what the correct answer is. It wasn’t one. Later or earlier? Which? Later? Earlier?

Linden: Later, naturally.

Netusil: Naturally? Not two?

Linden: Obviously.