and everyone said that he would have
got the push sure enough if it had not been for the accident.

Before he went away, Nimrod instructed Owen and Crass to go to the yard
at once: they would there find Payne the carpenter, who was making
Philpot's coffin, which would be ready for Crass to varnish by the time
they got there.

Misery told Owen that he had left the coffin plate and the instructions
with Payne and added that he was not to take too much time over the
writing, because it was a very cheap job.

When they arrived at the yard, Payne was just finishing the coffin,
which was of elm. All that remained to be done to it was the pitching
of the joints inside and Payne was in the act of lifting the pot of
boiling pitch off the fire to do this.

As it was such a cheap job, there was no time to polish it properly, so
Crass proceeded to give it a couple of coats of spirit varnish, and
while he was doing this Owen wrote the plate, which was made of very
thin zinc lacquered over to make it look like brass:

JOSEPH PHILPOT
Died
September 1st 19--
Aged 56 years.

The inquest was held on the following Monday morning, and as both
Rushton and Hunter thought it possible that Barrington might attempt to
impute some blame to them, they had worked the oracle and had contrived
to have several friends of their own put on the jury. There was,
however, no need for their alarm, because Barrington could not say that
he had himself noticed, or called Hunter's attention to the state of
the rope; and he did not wish to mention the names of the others
without their permission. The evidence of Crass and the other men who
were called was to the effect that it was a pure accident. None of them
had noticed that the rope was unsound. Hunter also swore that he did
not know of it--none of the men had ever called his attention to it; if
they had done so he would have procured a new one immediately.

Philpot's landlady and Mr Rushton were also called as witnesses, and
the end was that the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, and
added that they did not think any blame attached to anyone.

The coroner discharged the jury, and as they and the witnesses passed
out of the room, Hunter followed Rushton outside, with the hope of
being honoured by a little conversation with him on the satisfactory
issue of