nine in the evening
The day before Billy 's release Saxon completed her meager preparations to receive him . She was without money , and , except for her resolve not to offend Billy in that way again , she would have borrowed ferry fare from Maggie Donahue and journeyed to San Francisco to sell some of her personal pretties . As it was , with bread and potatoes and salted sardines in the house , she went out at the afternoon low tide and dug clams for a chowder . Also , she gathered a load of driftwood , and it was nine in the evening when she emerged from the marsh , on her shoulder a bundle of wood and a short-handled spade , in her free hand the pail of clams . She sought the darker side of the street at the corner and hurried across the zone of electric light to avoid detection by the neighbors . But a woman came toward her , looked sharply and stopped in front of her . It was Mary .