five minutes
to three
The sill was three or four feet above the ground , and for a moment one was at a loss for an explanation of this exceptional altitude , till ruts immediately beneath suggested that the door was used solely for the passage of articles and persons to and from the level of a vehicle standing on the outside . Upon the whole , the door seemed to advertise itself as a species of Traitor 's Gate translated to another sphere . That entry and exit hereby was only at rare intervals became apparent on noting that tufts of grass were allowed to flourish undisturbed in the chinks of the sill . As the clock over the South-street Alms-house pointed to five minutes to three , a blue spring waggon , picked out with red , and containing boughs and flowers , passed the end of the street , and up towards this side of the building . Whilst the chimes were yet stammering out a shattered form of `` Malbrook , '' Joseph Poorgrass rang the bell , and received directions to back his waggon against the high door under the gable . The door then opened , and a plain elm coffin was slowly thrust forth , and laid by two men in fustian along the middle of the vehicle . One of the men then stepped up beside it , took from his pocket a lump of chalk , and wrote upon the cover the name and a few other words in a large scrawling hand .