“Did you examine his back?”
“I did not. Why should I?”
“You knew there had been an accident.”
“The gentleman who had been with Sir Garth, Mr.—er—Hessel, certainly told me that there had been some slight contretemps—that someone had stumbled into Sir Garth and upset him; I should not have described it as an accident.”
“Do you mean by that that it was intentional?”
“Certainly not. I mean that it was too slight to be described as an accident. Still, I will accept the word, if you like.”
The Coroner bowed.
“And in spite of all this you did not consider it necessary to hold a post-mortem or to ask for an inquest?”
“I did not. As I have already said, I had known for a considerable time that Sir Garth had been suffering from an aneurism of dangerous size that was liable to rupture at any time in the event of shock or sudden violent physical exertion. When I was summoned and found that the aneurism had burst and that there was a history of shock—that this slight—er—accident had occurred, I had no hesitation in signing this certificate.”
“And you still hold that view?”