“—— ——,
“Assistant Surgeon in charge.”
Diplomatic Correspondence.
No solemn pages greeted him in answer this time. My rejoinder was concise and to the point.
“Hospital, April 3rd, 1864.
“The Chief Matron regrets that she is too busily engaged to give any more voluminous explanations, being at this moment up to her elbows in gingerbread.”
Then the sleeping lion was roused, for almost instantly the reply was brought me, and an alarming finale it was.
“Hospital, April 3rd, 1864.
“Chief Matron: Is hereby informed that if she willfully and contumaciously refuses to give me such information as I demand, and she is possessed of, thereby obstructing the duty I feel myself called upon to perform, she must be prepared to meet the responsibility upon your own shoulders.
“Respectfully,