Nelly was the first to break the silence.
"I's so glad you's come, Joe," she said simply.
"Are 'e, my honey?" said Joe, with a choking in his throat.
"Ay," she replied; "I wanted to see yer once more. You's been very good to me, Joe, and to Benny, an' I wanted to thank you afore I died."
"I dunna want thanks, honey," he said, sitting down in the one chair by her bedside, and hiding his face in his hands.
"I know yer does not want 'em, Joe; but it does me good, an' I shall tell the Lord when I gets to heaven how good you've been."
Joe could not reply, and Nelly closed her eyes, and whispered again to herself, as she had often done,
"Seaward fast the tide is gliding,
Shores in sunlight stretch away."
Then after awhile she spoke again, without opening her eyes.
"You'll not be long afore you comes too, will yer, Joe?"