“Very well, that examination I have ordered the medical authorities to hold, and see there,” continued the Resident, as he looked out of the window, “why, unless I am mistaken, that is the carriage of the chief medical officer now stopping at the gate! We shall soon get to the bottom of this business.”
Almost immediately after this the chief constable came in to announce the arrival of the Surgeon General. The latter advanced to the Resident’s chair, shook hands very ceremoniously, and then went through the same process, but much more familiarly, with the Controller.
“Ha, Verstork—you here?” he said.
Before, however, the Controller had time to reply, the Resident, turning to the doctor, said:
“Take a seat, doctor—well?—”
“No question of any such thing, Resident!”
“Indeed—now did I not tell you so? But the girl was wounded they told me.”
“A few scratches of no importance whatever—mere trifling skin-wounds and a little blood!”
“There was therefore no stu—stu—what did you call it?”
“Stuprum violentum—Oh, no, no! nothing of the kind. Here is the formal certificate properly filled in—that will be sufficient to satisfy all objections.”