midnight
M'Carstrow -LRB- Colonel by courtesy -RRB- had fifteen hundred dollars , cash down , to pay for Clotilda : this sad grievance excites his feelings , inasmuch as it was all owing to his wife 's whims , and the poverty of her relations . The verdict of the jury , recently rendered , was to his mind a strictly correct one ; but he can not forget the insane manner in which the responsibility was fastened upon him , and the hard cash-which might have made two handsome stakes on the turf-drawn from his pocket . His wife 's poverty-stricken relations he now detests , and can tolerate them best when farthest away from him . But Franconia does not forget that he is her husband ; no , night after night she sits at the window until midnight , waiting his return . Feeble and weary with anxiety , she will despatch a negro on a hopeless errand of search ; he , true to his charge , returns with the confidential intelligence of finding Mas ' r in a place less reputable than it is proper to mention . Such is our southern society , -- very hospitable in language , chivalrous in memory , -- base in morals ! Some - times the gallant colonel deems it necessary to remain until daylight , lest , in returning by night , the pavement may annoy his understanding .