ick coating of
flour from my dredger make all right? There was no time to be lost;
the remedy was administered successfully, and off I started; but,
alas! the wind was high and swept the skirts of my riding habit so
determinedly against the side of the poor beast, that before long its
false coat was transferred to the dark cloth, and my innocent _ruse_
exposed. The French are proverbially and really a polite and
considerate nation, but I never heard more hearty peals of laughter
from any sides than those which conveyed to me the horrible assurance
that my scheme had unhappily failed.

CHAPTER XIII.

MY WORK IN THE CRIMEA.

I hope the reader will give me credit for the assertion that I am
about to make, viz., that I enter upon the particulars of this chapter
with great reluctance; but I cannot omit them, for the simple reason
that they strengthen my one and only claim to interest the public,
viz., my services to the brave British army in the Crimea. But,
fortunately, I can follow a course which will not only render it
unnecessary for me to sound my own trumpet, but will be more
satisfactory to the reader. I can put on record the written opinions
of those who had ample means of judging and ascertaining how I
fulfilled the great object which I had in view in leaving England for
the Crimea; and before I do so, I must solicit my readers' attention
to the position I held in the camp as doctress, nurse, and "mother."

I have never been long in any place before I have found my practical
experience in the science of medicine useful. Even in London I have
found it of service to others. And in the Crimea, where the doctors
were so overworked, and sickness was so prevalent, I could not be long
idle; for I never forgot that my intention in seeking the army was to
help the kind-hearted doctors, to be useful to whom I have ever looked
upon and still regard as so high a privilege.

But before very long I found myself surrounded with patients of my
own, and this for two simple reasons. In the first place, the men (I
am speaking of the "ranks" now) had a very serious objection to going
into hospital for any but urgent reasons, and the regimental doctors
were rather fond of sending them there; and, in the second place, they
could and did get at my store sick-comforts and nourishing food, which
the heads of the medical staff would sometimes find it difficult to
procure. These reasons, with the additional one that I was ve