midday
I interrupted with the obvious question . Why could n't he go to his own home ? It appeared that the prospect terrified him . On his arrival , at midday , after eight months ' absence in France , he found that his wife had sold or pawned practically everything in the place , and that the lady herself was in the violent phase of intoxication . His natural remonstrances not being received with due meekness , a quarrel arose from which the lady emerged victorious . She laid her poor husband out with a poker . They could not keep him in hospital .