He said: "Am I? Praise God! (he was a good man). How fine your touch does feel to my face."
When she had finished bathing his eyes, she gave him a towel to wipe his eyes with. After he had wiped them, he opened and closed them several times, when, with his eyes open, he said: "Yes, I can see! O, I can see so much better. I keep seeing clearer all the time." And in a few minutes he could see Penloe and Stella just as well as they could see themselves.
The old man was overcome with joy. Looking at Stella, he said: "Bless God! I can see your dear face." And when he cast his eyes on the features of Penloe he became silent, then he looked at Stella, then at Penloe, and he seemed in a dream, for he did not know which was the greater surprise to him, having his sight restored or seeing the angelic countenances of the two before him.
Penloe took a newspaper and gave it to him, saying: "See if you can read that?"
Andrew took the paper, and to his great delight he could read it just as well as when he was a young man. The old man put the paper down, then in a little while he took it up again and read more, saying: "Yes, it is true. I can see to read to myself. Bless the Lord! I can see to read." He looked at them both again, and a feeling came over him as if there was a great distance between him and them. For he said, in speaking to Stella:
"Mrs. Penloe."
Whereupon Stella laughed, and told him: "I am not Mrs. Penloe, for I am just the same now as I was before I was married. I am your sister Stella, and my husband is your brother Penloe. Both of us look upon all boys and men as our brothers, and all girls and women as our sisters, for we are all members of one family."
The old man sat in silence after Stella spoke; he seemed to be amazed.
Stella said: "We must go now."
As she wished him good-bye, he said to them: "What must I do in return for the great blessing of sight which has been given me to-day?"