"To think of her being so close to me all the time! Once I thought I heard someone calling me. I couldn't catch the name but there was a tone of voice that rang in my ears for days and days. It was while I was driving the truck, and bless me if it wasn't going along that road that leads near that sanitarium. I must report to the Colonel first and then I can go get my wife." "Dr Harper may make some trouble, as his rule is not to let a patient out until the person who is responsible for her being there comes to remove her." "We'll see about that," and his jaws snapped together much to Josie's admiration. She had great respect for a firm jaw. "I am leaving my job now, as there is no use in my staying longer in the employ of the oily Dr. Harper. Perhaps I can help you. It is a pity for dear Mrs. Waller to spend another moment in this place where she has been so miserable. It would take some time for Mr. Hunt to reach here from Atlanta. When he comes he may make trouble about identifying you. He is so determined that you are dead, but I shall let your wife go into details concerning what that man hopes to gain by your 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."