n of the other workmen that he had been discharged. This belief
was further strengthened by the fact that a new hand had been sent to
the house by Hunter, who came himself also at about a quarter past
seven and very nearly caught Philpot in the act of smoking.

During breakfast, Philpot, addressing Crass and referring to Hunter,
inquired anxiously:

''Ow's 'is temper this mornin', Bob?'

'As mild as milk,' replied Crass. 'You'd think butter wouldn't melt in
'is mouth.'

'Seemed quite pleased with 'isself, didn't 'e?' said Harlow.

'Yes,' remarked Newman. ''E said good morning to me!'

'So 'e did to me!' said Easton. ''E come inter the drorin'-room an' 'e
ses, "Oh, you're in 'ere are yer, Easton," 'e ses--just like that,
quite affable like. So I ses, "Yes, sir." "Well," 'e ses, "get it
slobbered over as quick as you can," 'e ses, "'cos we ain't got much
for this job: don't spend a lot of time puttying up. Just smear it
over an' let it go!"'

''E certinly seemed very pleased about something,' said Harlow. 'I
thought prap's there was a undertaking job in: one o' them generally
puts 'im in a good humour.'

'I believe that nothing would please 'im so much as to see a epidemic
break out,' remarked Philpot. 'Small-pox, Hinfluenza, Cholery morbus,
or anything like that.'

'Yes: don't you remember 'ow good-tempered 'e was last summer when
there was such a lot of Scarlet Fever about?' observed Harlow.

'Yes,' said Crass with a chuckle. 'I recollect we 'ad six children's
funerals to do in one week. Ole Misery was as pleased as Punch,
because of course as a rule there ain't many boxin'-up jobs in the
summer. It's in winter as hundertakers reaps their 'arvest.'

'We ain't 'ad very many this winter, though, so far,' said Harlow.

'Not so many as usual,' admitted Crass, 'but still, we can't grumble:
we've 'ad one nearly every week since the beginning of October. That's
not so bad, you know.'

Crass took a lively interest in the undertaking department of Rushton &
Co.'s business. He always had the job of polishing or varnishing the
coffin and assisting to take it home and to 'lift in' the corpse,
besides acting as one of the bearers at the funeral. This work was
more highly paid for than painting.

'But I don't think there's no funeral job in,' added Crass after a
pause. 'I think it's because 'e's glad to see the end of Owen, if yeh
ask me.'

'Praps that 'as got something to do with it,' said Harlow. '