"
"It is very unfortunate," the governor said, "especially as these
exchanges are of rare occurrence. A few officers may be taken
prisoners on each side in the skirmishes, but the numbers are too
small to make the loss of any importance, either to Russia or
Sweden, and it is months since either have taken any steps to bring
about exchanges. I myself have no influence. My appointment here is
a sort of punishment, for having offended the czar by not having
brought up my regiment in time to take part in the fight, when you
attacked us at Narva. I saved the regiment, but that was not
regarded as any excuse for having been three days longer on the
march than the czar expected; so I was sent here, as a sort of
dismissal from active service.
"You know no one else who could move in your matter?"
"No one. The governor of the castle at Plescow was a surly fellow,
and was reprimanded by the czar, at least so I heard, for not
having treated me sufficiently well. I was only three or four days
there, and the only officer I saw besides Doctor Kelly was a friend
of his, another doctor. He was at the table when I dined with
Kelly. He seemed to me to be a fine fellow, and, by the by, he did
say jokingly that, if I was ever made prisoner again, I was to ask
for him, and that he would do anything he could for me.
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