congratulate him and ask him how it was. I don't wonder he fights shy. If
he could take his bride by the hand and walk out of the house with her I
believe he could start to-morrow; but if there must be a wedding and a lot
of fuss"--

Mrs. Creve nodded her head approvingly. The three had risen and stood
around the hearth, while the colonel put the brands delicately together
with the skill of an old campaigner. The flames breathed again.

"I don't offer this as a professional opinion," said the doctor. "But a
case like his is not a disease, it's a condition"--

"Of the mind, perhaps?" the colonel added significantly. He glanced at
Mrs. Creve. "You've thought about that, Doctor? The letter his mother
consulted you about?"

"Have you been worrying about that, Colonel? Why didn't you say so? There
is nothing in it whatever. Why, it's so plain a case the other way--any
one can see where the animus comes from!"

"Now you _are_ getting mysterious, and I'm going to bed!" said Mrs. Creve.

"No; we're coming to the point now," said the colonel.

"What is it you want Bogardus to do?" asked Doctor Fleming. "Want him to
get up and walk out of the house as my patient did at the hospital? Dare
say he could do it, but what then? Will you let me speak out, Colonel? No
regard to anybody's feelings? Now, this may be gossip, but I think it has
a bearing on the case upstairs. I'm going to have it off my mind anyhow!
When Mrs. Bogardus came to see the guide,--Packer John,--day before