When Alduara arrived in Carvilaña, the evening market there presented its usual busy, gay scene at the end of the long day. Farmers and country people had long since packed up their produce and their live stock, and gone home to their suppers; but there remained the booths of the craftsmen, the wine-sellers, and the cook-stalls, to provide the people of the town with a choice of amusements until curfew. The booths of the merchants, the clothiers and the drapers were still open, too; and there the fair traders presented an even more colourful scene, with all the great and rare wares they had brought with them for the big fair, now displayed, and all their livelier wares ready to hand; and the richer citizens of the town were sauntering about among the booths, looking them over with half-an-eye only for business, and half an eye for the entertainment provided by the rivalry and competition between the various booths and the stall-keepers. On this June evening the merchants were doing a good trade, and their voices were raised loud to proclaim the value and excellence of what they offered.