ten o'clock
The business portion of the town had `` an ancient and fishlike smell , '' and most of the trade seemed to be in cotton and naval stores and products of the sea . The wharves were piled high with cotton bales , and there were acres of barrels of resin and pitch and tar and spirits of turpentine . The market , a long , low , wooden structure , in the middle of the principal street , was filled with a mass of people of all shades , from blue-black to Saxon blonde , gabbling and gesticulating over piles of oysters and clams and freshly caught fish of varied hue . By ten o'clock the sun was beating down so fiercely that the glitter of the white , sandy streets dazzled and pained the eyes unaccustomed to it , and Rena was glad to be driven back to the hotel . The travelers left together on an early afternoon train . Thus for the time being was severed the last tie that bound Rena to her narrow past , and for some time to come the places and the people who had known her once were to know her no more . Some few weeks later , Mis ' Molly called upon old Judge Straight with reference to the taxes on her property .