John Gurney

Gurney's rheumatism cost him his working life until Berlyn and Pyke found him a job and let him the house cheap, and his gratitude is the real thing, not the union pamphlet version. When French presses him, his hesitation and self-consciousness betray a secret before his words do, and he finally admits he slept the whole night through, something he had never done before or since. His small, human failure is the hinge on which the crate's dispatch turns, and his shame gives the investigation its first honest witness.