§8
Some years before he came to us, Kornilov, being then a colonel in the Guards, was appointed Civil Governor of a provincial town, and entered at once upon business of which he knew nothing. Like all new brooms, he began by reading every official paper that was submitted to him. He came across a certain document from another Government which he could not understand, though he read it through several times.
He rang for his secretary and gave it to him to read. But the secretary also was unable to explain the matter clearly.
“What will you do with this document,” asked Kornilov, “if I pass it on to the office?”
“I shall hand it to Desk III—it is in their department.”
“So the chief of Desk III will know what to do?”
“Certainly, Your Excellency; he has been in charge of that desk for six years.”
“Please summon him to me.”
The chief came, and Kornilov handed him the paper and asked what should be done. The clerk ran through it hastily, and then said a question must be asked of the Crown Court and instructions given to the inspector of rural police.
“What instructions?”
The clerk seemed puzzled; at last he said that, though it was difficult to state them on the spot, it was easy to write them down.
“There is a chair; will you be good enough to write now?”
The clerk took a pen, wrote rapidly and confidently, and soon produced the two documents.
The Governor took them and read them through; he read them through again; he could make nothing of them. “Well,” he used to say afterwards, “I saw that it really was in the form of an answer to the original document; so I plucked up courage and signed it. The answer gave entire satisfaction; I never heard another word about it.”