Arletta said no more at that time, but to my great surprise, the next day I was transferred from the charity ward to a paid private room in another part of the hospital. The furnishings of this room were of the most luxurious description, and the nurse informed me that it was the very best and highest priced apartment in the building. I afterwards learned that the cost of renting this room, including attendance, was one hundred dollars per week. Arletta had secured it for me. It was really remarkable how quickly the value of my life increased in the eyes of those hospital attendants, by the expenditure of a little money. From a worthless proletariat I was suddenly transformed into a man of great importance. There were two private nurses to wait on me, and they moved with the celerity of antelopes in response to my slightest bidding. They appeared to be bubbling over with kindness and attention, and seemed to anticipate my every want. The orderlies treated me as if I were the crowned ruler of the universe, while the doctors displayed an unnatural politeness that was almost amusing. I found out later that Arletta was to fee them all handsomely in case of my early recovery. My new nurses were always ready to answer questions and give me any information I wanted.
Upon arriving at my new and sumptuous quarters, one of the nurses informed me that I was to receive a personal visit from the great Doctor Know-all that day. She further informed me that he was considered to be the leading physician of America and that he never made a professional call for less than one thousand dollars. As if by appointment Arletta and this doctor arrived at almost the same moment. Several of the house physicians also followed him into the room anxious to learn what diagnosis this celebrated practitioner would make of a case which had so baffled them. He lost no time in unnecessary talk but got down to work immediately, first looking over the charts which recorded my condition since my entrance to the hospital. Then he examined me carefully, with various instruments, from the tip of my head to the sole of my foot, meanwhile asking me many questions on widely different subjects.
At last he turned to the house physicians and said: "It is my opinion that when this man first entered the hospital he was merely suffering from a simple case of malaria and not enteric fever, as you have diagnosed. Since then his kidneys have become affected, and he now suffers from both malaria and lumbago. For the fever, give him ten grains of quinine three times a day for two days and gradually diminish the quantity until the fever abates entirely. Begin to feed him after the second day. For the lumbago, give him at least two quarts of lithia water to drink each day. Now as to the man's mental calibre, I find him perfectly sane and normal. But owing to a fracture of the skull sustained by him some time in the past, the two sides of his brain have become separated, causing two distinct personalities to exist. When one side of the brain works, the other side remains dormant, and vice versa. He likewise possesses a dual memory, and is only capable of recollecting events as they happen separately and distinctly, according to the side of the brain which takes the impression. Consequently, this man may have lived a perfectly sane life during the past twenty-one years, of which he claims to have no recollection. He may at any time in the future resume either personality by some slight mental disturbance, but his two personalities will always remain as strangers to each other."
Having thus delivered himself, the doctor, who apparently was bent upon making a few more thousand dollar calls that day, hurriedly, but with great dignity, strode out of the room, closely followed by the other physicians.
After they had departed, and we were alone, Arletta pulled a chair up close to the head of my bed, and, looking steadily and earnestly into my eyes, said: "I sincerely hope, Mr. Convert, that you may never again resume your other personality."
The change from a charity patient to the highest paid patient in the Ruff Hospital bore magical results, and I was soon on the road to recovery. The quinine knocked all the fever out of me within two days. The food I was given to eat after fasting two months, began to strengthen me at once and within ten days I was able to walk about the room. Arletta never failed to visit me at least once each day, and on some days, two and three times. With each visit she brought flowers, fruit, or some little delicacy, and I was not long in discovering that she was taking more than an ordinary interest in me. As the days flew by, her visits became more frequent and of longer duration, until finally it seemed as if she almost lived in my apartment. Many times she came in the morning and remained all day, taking her lunch with me in the meantime. As my health improved, and I became more vigorous in bodily strength, those same feelings of admiration and love I bore for the first Arletta took a firm hold of me until it seemed that she was a part of my very life. Ah! those were happy and heavenly days indeed. The happiness I enjoyed there, was of that kind which can only exist between two souls fore-ordained and mated to each other for all eternity. As the time went by-all too rapidly-we had much to talk about. Arletta described the many progressive strides made by science and invention during the twenty-one years in which my mind was a blank, and I told her hair-raising stories of my early travels and adventures in all parts of the world. We said very little regarding my other personality. That subject appeared distasteful, and caused her to shudder whenever it was brought up. She seemed to think that in my other character I was all that was low, mean and contemptible, while she openly avowed that my present self was noble, honorable, and manly.
There was one hitch, however, which seemed to take root and stand threateningly in the path of absolute harmony between us, and that was my belief in Natural Law. She refused to believe the story I told her of the wonderful Sagewoman of whom she was the re-incarnation, claiming that it was nothing more nor less than a fancy of my disordered brain. She also seemed greatly displeased when I informed her that it was my intention to go out into the world and teach the principles of Natural Law. It pained her to think that I should allow myself to even question the authenticity and infallibility of the Bible. Her faith was so strong and her nature so gentle that I refrained from discussing the subject in any form, after I found how much she grieved over it. So I said no more about my experience with the divine Sagewoman and my promise to follow her instructions during the remainder of my natural life, but confined my conversation to other subjects, and to the full enjoyment of her daily companionship during my period of convalescence.
Day by day my weight and strength increased, until at last the time arrived for me to quit the hospital and go into the outer world. I had made no plans as to what I should do when thrown upon my own resources, but felt confident that once well and strong I should find plenty of work to do with both my hands and brain. Arletta, who appeared to have an unlimited bank account, was generously supplying me with every comfort and luxury that money could purchase, notwithstanding my earnest protests against it. The tailor had visited me, taken my measure, and returned a fine black frock suit of clothes. The hatter had furnished a silk tile, the shoemaker, shoes, and the haberdasher all the other articles necessary to complete my wearing apparel in the most up-to-date style. The barber, the manicurists, and even the chiropodist had visited me and taken extra pains in polishing me off.
"You are the handsomest old gentleman in New York," said Arletta, girlishly, as she saw me for the first time dressed in street clothes, and all ready to take my departure. "But you do not look so old, after all," she added reflectively, "if it were not for your white hair you might pass for a man of thirty-five. My! what a great big fellow you are! Really, I am afraid that all of the women at the Waldoria will become infatuated with you at first sight," continued she, critically looking me over from head to foot.