midnight
These cares and similar fears were not of a nature to dispose him to sleep , and besides for a long time he had suffered from an exasperating nervous insomnia . As the night was warm he thought a little fresh air would calm him , and he opened the window ; if this freshness did not calm him , at least it would make him sleep . Obliged to improvise a bed in her mother 's room , Phillis placed it against the partition that separated her from her husband , but without preconcerted intention , simply by accident , because it was the only place where she could put the bed . A little after midnight an unusual noise awoke her ; she sat up to listen and to recover herself . It seemed as if this noise came from her husband 's room . Alarmed , she placed her ear against the partition . She was not deceived ; they were stifled groans , moans that were repeated at short intervals .