I will take care of Mr.Selincourt and write my letter at the same time," Jervis answered, taking a fountain pen and a notebook from his pocket, and beginning to write forthwith.
Mary walked out of the house and down to the river just as she was, for the sun had gone down sufficiently to render a hat unnecessary.
The two men were busy with their boat still, but one of them left his work and put Mary across the river in one of the other boats which lay drawn up on the bank.
The Indians, who had been crowding the store half an hour before, were encamped on the bank now, a little lower down, and were busy cooking fish for their supper.

There were no other customers visible either inside the store or out.

Now that the fishing was in full swing the fishermen had little time for lounging about the store; so, although the work of delivering goods was greater, there were compensating circumstances in not having the store always crowded up with men and lads, who had come more for the sake of talking than buying.
Mary walked up the steep bank and across the open space to the store door with a sense of the strangest unreality all about her.
It was herself who walked and moved, yet all the time she seemed to stand aside and let another self think and feel and act.

A composite odour of groceries, bacon, tobacco, and cheap clothes met her as she entered the rough, homely shed, which was a typical emporium of the backwoods; but she had no time to analyse the odours, being at once attracted by Katherine, who stood at a tall desk by the window, entering items in a ledger.

At the same time Katherine glanced up and saw the visitor entering the door.