noon
`` And a melodeon , '' another one would exclaim , lifting the sheet . `` A melodeon , when you can rent a piano for a dollar a week ; and say , I really believe they used to eat in the kitchen . '' `` Dollarn-half , dollarn-half , dollarn-half , give me two , '' intoned the auctioneer from the second-hand store . By noon the crowd became a jam . Wagons backed up to the curb outside and departed heavily laden . In all directions people could be seen going away from the house , carrying small articles of furniture -- a clock , a water pitcher , a towel rack . Every now and then old Miss Baker , who had gone below to see how things were progressing , returned with reports of the foray .