This is from memory–can’t find it on the web and can’t be bothered to go to

the attic & search for it. The Duke was punctilious about answering mail

from officers under his command… but not always very helpful. One young

subaltern wrote to him in desperation, explaining that he had got a

respectable girl pregnant, and was under heavy pressure from both his own

family and hers to marry her, which he did not want to do. The Duke’s

reply, in its entirety, was something like: “Sir, You have got into a pretty

pickle, and must extricate yourself as best you can. Yrs.

etc.–Wellington.”