our death."

The Colonel was accessible and as delighted at the restoration of
Stephen Waller's memory as Josie herself. Indefinite leave was given
him and the Colonel advanced enough money from his own private funds to
enable him to travel comfortably with his wife.

CHAPTER XVII
HUSBAND AND WIFE

"I have come for my wife. I am Stephen Waller."

Those words were simple enough but Dr. Harper seemed to find them most
confusing. He wagged his venerable beard like an angry goat and said
nothing at first, but like a goat he looked as though he might be
gathering his forces for a mighty butting.

"I don't know what you mean. I know nothing of your wife."

"Nothing of a Mrs. Waller who has been in your sanitarium for a year or
more?"

"Nothing!"

"See here! I am not going to stand any foolishness. Do you mean to say
you have not a patient named Mrs. Waller?"

"I do not! I have such a patient but she is a widow and I am sure she
knows nothing of you. How am I to know who you are?" asked Harper.

"You can get out of here faster than you got in. I have plenty of men
here who can put you out and none too gently. Mrs. Waller was put in my
care by a Mr. Chester and he, and he alone, has the authority to remove
her from my sanitarium."

Josie had slipped up to Mrs. Waller's room when she left Captain Waller
at the door and there, as gently and with as much composure as she
could command, she told her of her husband.

"I knew it, I knew it all the time. I must go to him." Lightly she ran
down the stairs and into the office, past the wagging beard of the
angry Harper and into the arms of the shabby soldier.

"Stephen!"

"Mary!"

Even the incredulous Dr. Harper could but be convinced that they really
were husband and wife.

"Well, she can't leave until her board is paid," he blustered. "It is
months in arrears and I have no idea of losing it."

Dr. Harper had not noticed that Josie had come in the office behind
Mrs. Waller. Josie had a way of being able to efface herself almost
entirely--she stood so still and was so silent.

At Dr. Harper's words she made herself seen and heard, however. From
her pocket she produced a small note book filled with cryptic
characters and from it she read solemnly like a recording angel. First
was the letter to Chester Hunt from Dr. Harper. Date and all she gave
with businesslike precision. Then she read Chester Hunt's answer to
that letter, with a copy of the check which was