"Sir W.S. Gilbert and 'The Flag.'" Daily Mail, issue 3793, June 8, 1908, p. 4.
TO THE EDIITOR OF THE DAILY MAIL.
In an article that I contributed to "The Flag" the following words occur in reference to the circumstances under which I left Paris just before the siege in 1870:—
The French engineers obligingly waited until we had crossed the bridge at Creil and then they blew it up. I heard the explosion. On arriving at Boulogne I called at Merridew's Library for newspapers and letters, and told Mrs. Merridew that I had just arrived from Paris. "That is impossible," said the lady, rather rudely, "for the bridge of Creil was blown up this morning." "Exactly," said I, " I heard it."
I am sorry to learn that this paragraph has caused some annoyance to Mrs. Merridew and to her sons. It is quite possible that I was mistaken in supposing that the lady to whom I spoke was Mrs. Merridew, and, in that case, I owe her an apology.
W.S. GILBERT
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