four o’clock in the morning
Monsieur Verlaque played his part as Florent 's instructor in the most conscientious manner , clearing the way by means of his elbows , and guiding his successor through the busiest parts . The upper-class retail dealers were there , quietly waiting for some of the finer fish , or loading the porters with their purchases of turbot , tunny , and salmon . The street-hawkers who had clubbed together to buy lots of herrings and small flat-fish were dividing them on the pavement . There were also some people of the smaller middle class , from distant parts of the city , who had come down at four o'clock in the morning to buy a really fresh fish , and had ended by allowing some enormous lot , costing from forty to fifty francs , to be knocked down to them , with the result that they would be obliged to spend the whole day in getting their friends and acquaintances to take the surplus off their hands . Every now and then some violent pushing would force a gap through part of the crowd . A fish-wife , who had got tightly jammed , freed herself , shaking her fists and pouring out a torrent of abuse . Then a compact mass of people again collected , and Florent , almost suffocated , declared that he had seen quite enough , and understood all that was necessary .