midnight
Of a truth , Bertha saw but half of it and comprehended less , for she could not forget the leaden hands and flushed face of the man she called husband -- and whom she had left in his bed to sleep away his hours of intoxication . She pitied him now -- but in a new fashion . Her compassion was mixed with contempt , and that showed more clearly than any other feeling could the depth to which Marshall Haney had sunk . When she came home at midnight she listened at his door , but did not enter , for Lucius -- skilled in all such matters -- reported the Captain to be `` all right . '' She went to her own room in a more darkly tragic mood than she had ever known before . Her punishment , her time for trouble , had begun . `` I reckon I 'm due to pay for my fun , '' she said to herself , `` but not in the way I 've been figuring on . ''