noon
Men drank and talked at the cafes while their women stayed by the stands and kiosks , exchanging goods and talking also . Sometimes someone came along and bought something with gold bits , which was surprising and not very common , since the usual manner that the people carried on their business was in barter and in copper . However , the attainment of gold was short-lived . Every day at noon , one of the ArchBishop 's tax clerics went amongst those who received gold and exchanged it for copper bits . Usually , the exchange was n't just or fair . The town 's people were most often given two bits of copper for every one bit of gold . Rarely they received five bits to one of gold : that was a great achievement in everyone 's eyes if someone were capable of bringing it about .