How much heavier, it always seems to me, that sort of load than any other of the same size! A great oak shell: the lid was outside in the porch, Mr.Tressels was unwilling to screw it down, having heard that the entrance to the vault was so narrow, and apprehending it might be necessary to take the coffin out.

So it lay its length with a dull weight on the two forms.

The lead coffin inside, with its dusty black velvet, was plainly much older.
There was a plate on it with two bold capitals, and a full stop after each, thus;-- R.D.obiit May 11th, A.D.1746.

aetat 38.
And above this plain, oval plate was a little bit of an ornament no bigger than a sixpence.

John Tracy took it for a star, Bob Martin said he knew it to be a Freemason's order, and Mr.Tressels, who almost overlooked it, thought it was nothing better than a fourpenny cherub.
But Mr.Irons, the clerk, knew that it was a coronet; and when he heard the other theories thrown out, being a man of few words he let them have it their own way, and with his thin lips closed, with their changeless and unpleasant character of an imperfect smile, he coldly kept this little bit of knowledge to himself.
Earth to earth (rumble), dust to dust (tumble), ashes to ashes (rattle).
And now the coffin must go out again, and down to its final abode.
The flag that closed the entrance of the vault had been removed.