midnight
`` Good-bye , William . '' She took up her basket and walked slowly back to the house ; William watched her for a moment or two , swore , and returned to his horse . He did not ride home wards , but down the valley , where he spent the day at the `` Compton Arms . '' When he returned home , which was not before midnight , he was boisterously drunk . Now it so happened that when William dismounted at the gate Mrs. Hooper had spied him from her bedroom window , and , guessing his errand , had stolen down on the other side of the garden wall parallel with which the peas were planted . Thus sheltered , she contrived to hear every word of the foregoing conversation , and repeated it to her good man that very night . `` An ' I reckon William said true , '' she wound up .