Andrew Smith, who, some time since, had followed the Bison
into outer darkness, but a yet more formidable figure, the
Permanent Under-Secretary himself, Sir Benjamin Hawes-- Ben Hawes
the Nightingale Cabinet irreverently dubbed him "a man remarkable
even among civil servants for adroitness in baffling inconvenient
inquiries, resource in raising false issues, and, in, short, a
consummate command of all the arts of officially sticking in the
mud'.
'Our scheme will probably result in Ben Hawes's resignation,'
Miss Nightingale said; 'and that is another of its advantages.'
Ben Hawes himself, however, did not quite see it in that light.
He set himself to resist the wishes of the Minister by every
means in his power. The struggle was long, and desperate; and, as
it proceeded, it gradually became evident to Miss Nightingale
that something was the matter with Sidney Herbert. What was it?
His health, never very strong, was, he said, in danger of
collapsing under the strain of his work. But, after all, what is
illness, when there is a War Office to be reorganised? Then he
began to talk of retiring altogether from public life. The
doctors were consulted, and declared that, above all things, what
was necessary was rest. Rest! She grew seriously alarmed. Was it
possible that, at the last moment, the crowning wreath of victory
was to be snatched from her grasp? She was not to be put aside by
doctors; they were talking nonsense; the necessary thing was not
rest, but the reform of the War Office; and, besides, she knew
very well from her own case what one could do even when one was
on the point of death.
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