The Officer. And now the Medical Service refuse to help us.
The Clerk. Yes, sir. They cannot bring the fixing of it under the head of surgical operations, and the Surgeon-General points out very justly, if I may be permitted to say so, sir, that a seal-pattern false tooth could hardly be considered a "medical comfort."
The Officer. What are we to do? The Colonel of the regiment is evidently furious.
The Clerk. We might send the correspondence to the Inspector of Iron Structures. He may be able to do or suggest something.
The Officer. Very well; and will you send off this telegram to my wife saying I have a long evening's work before me, and that I shall not be able to get back to dinner to-night? (Exit the Clerk.) Whenever will they trust a General Commanding a District to spend for the public good on his own responsibility a sum as large as a schoolboy's allowance, and so take some of the unnecessary work off our shoulders?
[He tackles wearily another file of papers.
