housekeeper at the Easedale Hotel, said that the deceased came to her to complain of his room. He was not drunk, but he had had a drop. He seemed a very irritable sort of gentleman. Witness took the complaint to Mr. Gardiner because she felt she could not manage him herself. The floors were beeswaxed every Thursday morning. They had been done that day. They were often a bit slippery at first. She had once slipped down herself and broken a tray of glasses.
Mr. Denis Arthur Merion-Smith, aeronautical engineer, of Bredon, stated that he was in the parlor with Mr. Gardiner when deceased came in. Witness did not join in the conversation, but he saw all that passed. Deceased's feet seemed to fly up in the air. He was quite dead when they reached him. Witness loosened his collar, but was sure it would do no good.
The Foreman: What in your opinion was the cause of the deceased's fall?--I should not like to say. He was not intoxicated, but he was not quite steady on his feet. A perfectly sober man would probably have saved himself.
Dr. Leonard Scott, of Westby, said that he was staying at the Easedale Hotel, and was called to attend deceased at about 10.30 P.M. Deceased had apparently been dead about ten minutes when he examined him. There was bleeding from the ears, with a deep cut at the back of the head; also a very slight abrasion on the forehead, but this was of no significance. It might have been caused by a splinter of glass flying up and striking him. Death was due to fracture of the base of the skull, and was probably instantaneous. In cases of severe fracture that is not unusual.
By the Jury: If the deceased's feet slipped from under him, as described by the other witnesses, his head would strike the fender first. Deceased was a heavy man, and such a fall would be quite sufficient to fracture his skull.
P. C. Thornborough gave details of the position of the body.... There was plenty more. Dr. Scott skimmed through it all to the verdict of accidental death, and the jury's expressions of sympathy with the widow. He read it standing in the street of Ambleside, and then doubled the paper under his arm and trudged the five miles back to Grasmere.
The Easedale Hotel was no longer full. A violent death, an inquest, and a confinement had emptied the house and attracted instead a crowd of casual sightseers. The lounge and terrace were full of them. Scott asked for Gardiner, and climbed many stairs to the roof. Coming out of a last trap-door, he beheld Gardiner and his friend among the chimney-pots, in close conversation, which died instantly on his appearance.
There was a table, there were chairs, there was a bed beneath an awning. Gardiner, at full length on a lounge, swung his feet to the ground and welcomed his visitor. Merion-Smith acknowledged him with 

 Prev. P 19/255 next