nine o'clock
It occupies a structure which was once a palace ; and its cells , planned for other purposes , are spacious . But its most gratifying feature , to one forcibly removed from social intercourse , is its outlook . The windows command the Piazza Garibaldi , which is the social centre of the town ; it contains the village post , the fountain , the tobacco shop , the washing-trough , and the two rival cafés , the ` Independenza ' and the ` Libertà . ' The piazza is always dirty and noisy -- that goes without saying -- but on Wednesday morning at nine o'clock , it is peculiarly dirty and noisy . Wednesday is Valedolmo 's market day , and the square is so cluttered with booths and hucksters and anxious buyers , that the peaceable pedestrian can scarcely wedge his way through . The noise moreover is deafening ; above the cries of vendors and buyers rises a shriller chorus of bleating kids and squealing pigs and braying donkeys . Mr. Wilder , red in the face and short of temper , pushed through the crowd with little ceremony , prodding on the right with his umbrella , on the left with his fan , and using his elbows vigorously .