He started, sent a glance of lightning rapidity at his friend, reflected a moment, and then said, "Accost her as Miss Noble. By that name she may remember herself. Ay, señor, call her Ida Noble."
I bit my lip, and, planting myself by a step in front of the lady, bent my knee till my face was on a level with hers.
"Look at me, madame," said I. "I know you as Ida Noble. Look at me. I am your countryman and your friend."
I pronounced the word "friend" with the utmost emphasis I could communicate to it. She raised her eyes without altering the posture of her head. They were of a soft brown, and the richer for the contrast of her hair. I never could have imagined such eyes under eyebrows of so pale a yellow as hers. She looked at me during a few beats of the pulse steadfastly, and then smiled, but there was no meaning in her smile or in her regard. A moment after she bent her eyes down again, and began to sing; but the air was without music; the words which left her lips half articulated were without sense.
"Valgame Dios!" cried Don Lazarillo.
She ceased to sing and set her lips again, and continued to gaze at the deck without any signs of life, as before. I rose to my stature, and, after watching her a while, said to Don Christoval, "I can do no good."
"You made her smile, Captain Portlack," said he, in a soft whisper.
I shook my head, stepped to the door, and passed into the cabin. The others followed, Don Christoval closing the door behind him.
"I believe, with patience," said he, "that you could bring her mind back to her."
"I am no doctor, gentlemen," said I. "I know nothing about the treatment of the insane."