midnight
Coming in , in better spirits perhaps than usual , intending to have a cheerful tea and a cozy chat after it , he would find everything in a state of disturbance , especially his young wife 's temper , with plenty of steam everywhere except from the spout of the tea-pot . Indeed , poor Kate was one of those domestic paradoxes in her own person and house which are specially trying to one who cares for home comfort : and who is there who does not care for it ? She would be always cleaning , yet never clean ; always smartening things up , and yet never keeping them tidy . And so when William , on coming home , would find pale , ghost-like linen garments hanging reeking from the embossed arm of the gas chandelier a large piece of dissolving soap on the centre of the table-cover , a great wooden tub in the place where his arm-chair should be , a lump of sodden rags in one of his slippers , and his wife toiling and fuming in the midst of all , with her hair in papers and her elbows in suds , with scarce the faintest hope for him of getting his evening meal served for more than an hour to come , -- what wonder if harsh words escaped him , repaid with words equally harsh from his excited partner , and followed by his flinging himself in a rage out of such a home , and returning near midnight with a plunging , stumbling step on the stairs , which sent all the blood chilly back to the heart of the unhappy woman , and quenched in sobs and tears the bitter words that were ready to burst forth ! But at last there came the little babe , and with it a rush of returning fondness and tenderness into the heart of both the parents ; yet only for a time . The tide of home misery had set in full again ; and now on this winter evening , a little more than a twelve-month after her marriage , poor , unhappy Kate Foster knelt by the side of the little cradle , her tears falling fast and thick on the small white arm of her sick baby ; for very sick it was , and she feared that death -LRB- ay , not death , but God -- her heart , her conscience said , `` God , '' -RRB- was about to snatch from her the object she loved best on earth , even with a passionate love . Though it was winter and cold , yet the casement was ajar , for the chimney of the room had smoked for weeks ; but nothing had been done towards remedying the trouble , except grumbling at it , and letting in draughts of keen air through half-open doors and windows , to the manifest detriment of the health of both mother and child .