IDA NOBLE.
"Our turn next, sir," exclaimed Butler, coming away from the rail,
where he had been standing for a minute looking at the brig under his
hand.
"Yes. I shall be sorry to lose you," said I; "but what must be, must
be, and you've made up your minds."
"Ay, sir. It is right and proper, indeed, that you should carry the
poor lady home; and gladly would we help ye if we durst. But after
what's happened----" He violently shook his head. "How far d'ye reckon
the coast of Cadiz to be distant, sir?"
"Call it four days at this rate of sailing," said I. Then, looking at
him, I continued: "I wish you men would change your minds, and let me
set you ashore north of Ushant."
I was proceeding to explain my reason, but he arrested me by an
emphatic, "No, sir. Let it be Cadiz, if you please. The further away
the better. All us men have friends at Cadiz, and there are other
reasons for our deciding upon that port."
I went below to see what Don Lazarillo had left behind him. The negro
lad sat in a chair keeping that watch in the cabin which we continued
to maintain spite of the girl's wonderful death-like sleep. It would
have been easy, indeed, to have padlocked or in other ways secured the
door; but then, if the door had been thus secured, our vigilance would
certainly have been relaxed: in which case there was the chance of the
cabin being empty at the moment when her consciousness returned, and,
consequently, nobody at hand to arrest any dangerous behavior in her.
I found that Don Lazarillo had emptied the locker of its cigars. The
negro boy told me that the Spaniard had also carried away the wine
which had lain stowed in the lazarette. But there was nothing to
grieve me in this news; there were pipes and tobacco on board, and a
plentiful stock of cheap wine for the use of the sailors. I entered
Don Christoval's cabin and found nothing but the bedding left. The
clothes of the dead man had been packed and conveyed to the brig. There
was a chest of drawers, and in a corner stood a small table with
drawers; these I ransacked, with a faint fancy or hope of meeting with
some forgotten letter, some diary or document which Don Lazarillo had
neglected to take, and which might throw some fresh light upon this
extraordinary expedition. But every drawer was empty.
I was standing lost in thought, with my eyes fixed upon the vacant bunk
or sleeping-shelf, musing upon the incidents of the past few days, and
wondering into what sort of issue my hand was to shape this adventure,
when I was startled by an extraordinary cry, scarcely less alarming in
its way than the death-scream that had been uttered by Don Christoval.
It was such a cry as a wounded savage might deliver. Before I could
reach the door of the berth the negro boy rushed in.
"Oh, massa," he panted, "dah lady's looking out."
My impression was that he had been stabbed. "Are you hurt?" I
exclaimed, grasping him by the arm.
"No, sah!"
"Who shrieked just now?"
"I did, sah."
I cuffed him over his woolly head to clear him out of my road, and
stepped into the cabin. Miss Noble, with the handle of the cabin door
in her grasp, stood looking out with an expression upon her face of
such utter bewilderment that but for her costume and my knowing she
was the sole occupant of her room, I should not have recognized her. A
person watching the motions of a gliding apparition, _knowing_ it to be
a ghost, beckoning, stalking, compelling, might very well be supposed
to stare as that girl did. Her eyes slowly rolled over the interior,
as though the organ of vision, stupefied by bewilderment, was scarcely
capable of effort. She was deadly pale, yet, spite of the withering
influence of her astonishment upon her features, I seemed to find an
expression of intelligence in them that most certainly was not to be
witnessed before. She breathed swiftly. One side of her hair was now
entirely unfastened, and the heavy mass of the dark red tresses lay
upon her shoulder and upon her bosom. I instantly looked at her idle
hand; it held nothing.
I surveyed her a little, wondering whether she would speak; whether
reason had been restored to her; whether there might not happen at any
beat of the pulse a sudden horrible transformation in her, a new and
blacker exhibition of insanity. Her dark eyes came to mine; there was
an expression of terror in them. She pressed her hand to her forehead,
and looked down as though she would sharpen her sight by averting it
for a moment from the object at which she gazed, then looked at me
again, pleadingly, eagerly, and fearfully.
"Do not you know where you are, Miss Noble?" said I, in the most
careless, matter-of-fact manner I could put on.
"I am trying to think," she answered.
"Pray give me your hand," said I.
She extended it as a child might. I led her to an arm-chair and
gently obliged her to sit. A decanter half-full of sherry stood in
the swing-tray. I poured a little of the wine into a glass, and
presented it to her; she took it and drank. Her behavior and looks were
absolutely rational, clouded as they were by a bewilderment which her
eyes appeared to express as hopeless. She had been fasting for many
hours, and I was sure I could not do better than make her take food.
I beckoned to Tom, who stood staring at the lady from the other end
of the cabin. He approached, though he kept the table between him and
Miss Noble. Her bewilderment visibly deepened as her eyes rested on his
black face. I directed him to obtain the most delicate refreshments
which the cabin larder of the schooner yielded, and to bear a hand.
"You have been long asleep," said I, gently. "You were unconscious when
you were brought aboard this vessel--for you know _now_ that you are at
sea--and you must not wonder that you are bewildered on waking to find
yourself in this strange scene."
"Where am I?" she asked, in a voice that was but a little above a
whisper, so breathless was she with continued surprise.
"You are on board a schooner called La Casandra. I am acting as her
captain. We are now making haste to return to England, to restore you
to your home."
"England--home?" she muttered, looking at me, then around her, then
down at the dressing-gown she was robed in, then pulling a sleeve of
the gown a little way up the arm and gazing at the bracelets upon her
wrists. "Why am I here?" she exclaimed, drawing a breath that sounded
like a sob.
"Will you not wait till you have eaten a trifle? Nothing has passed
your lips for very many hours. As strength returns, your memory will
brighten, and I know I shall make you happy by the assurance I am able
to give you."
"Why am I here?" she repeated.
I considered it wise to humor her: but to humor her I must tell the
truth.
"You are here," said I, "because two Spaniards--one of them named
Don Christoval del Padron, and the other styled Don Lazarillo de
Tormes--went ashore near your father's estate, on the coast of
Cumberland, accompanied by a crew of armed sailors, and forcibly stole
you away from your home, carrying you in a state of insensibility to a
boat."
She interrupted me at this point by crying out, "Yes, yes, now I
remember, now I remember." She clasped her hands and half rose,
repeating, "Yes, yes, now I remember," staring past me wildly as she
spoke, as though she addressed some one at the other end of the cabin;
then burying her face in her hands she sat in silence, rocking herself
in the throes of a conflict with memory.
I stood looking on, waiting for nature to have her way with her. The
seamen, having got wind of her awakening, had collected at the skylight
and were looking down; but fearing that the sight of them might terrify
her, I dispersed the group of dark and hairy faces with an angry
gesture. Tom arrived with a tray of refreshments. I dispatched him on
deck to inform Butler and the others that the lady had returned to
consciousness; that her reason had awakened with her, and that she was
now as sane as any of us, but that they were to keep quiet and to hold
their heads out of view.
Presently the girl looked up; she was weeping, but so silently that I
did not know she was crying until I saw her face.
"It has all come back to me," she exclaimed in a broken voice, and
shuddering violently. "Did you tell me you were taking me home?"
"Yes, Miss Noble, you are going home."
"Will it be long before we arrive home?"
"Not very long."
"And what has happened to me since I have been here?" said she, looking
again down at the rich crimson dressing-gown she was habited in.
"You have been in a sort of stupor," I answered, "but you have awakened
strong and well; or let me say, in a very little while you will be
strong and well. But you must eat, if you please, and while you eat you
shall ask any questions you like, and I will answer you."
I put the plate beside her, and noticed with gladness that she eyed it
somewhat wistfully. Indeed, if anybody were ever nearly starved, she
was; though medical men to whom I have stated her case have since told
me that persons visited with these extraordinary fits of slumber can
live for days, and even for weeks, without food.
Tom had been careful not to put a knife on the tray; but there was
a fork, and with it I placed a thin slice of ham between two white
biscuits and presented this sea-sandwich to her, and she began to eat.
She ate the whole of it, and then I made her another and gave her
a little more sherry, and now I could observe how excellently this
refreshment served her as medicine; for every moment seemed to diminish
something of her bewilderment, while intelligence brightened in her
eyes, and a very faint bloom from the improved action of her heart
sifted into her complexion.
Suddenly, with a start, and with a wild and terrified look around the
cabin, she asked me where the two Spaniards were. The idea of them,
borne on the current of the thoughts and fancies flowing through
her brain, had, as I might judge, but that instant entered her
consciousness. Now it was not to be supposed that I could tell her she
had with her own hand slain one of those Spaniards; and no purpose,
therefore, could be served by informing her that one of them was dead.
"They have left the vessel," I answered.
"Will they return?" she cried.
"No, indeed; I will take care of that. You need not fear that they will
trouble you any more."
Her countenance relaxed its expression of terror, and her eyes met mine
with a soft and touching look of gratitude in them. She then sighed
deeply, and pressed her hand to her forehead.
"Pray, Miss Noble, tell me how you feel?" said I.
"My head swims," she answered. "The motion of this vessel affects me."
Now that might well have been so, strange as it may seem. She would
suffer from sea-sickness neither in her trance nor in her madness; but
now that both were passed, now that her real nature was re-established
in her, she must needs begin to suffer as she would have suffered from
this same sea-sickness at the beginning of the voyage had she been
brought on board in her senses. It seemed to me a most wholesome,
reassuring sign, though I would not say so, for I desired to preserve
her from all suspicion of the hideous state she had passed through.
"Suppose," said I, "that you lie down and endeavor to obtain some
sleep. What you have awakened from was stupor, and there can be no
refreshment in stupor. A few hours of wholesome, natural rest are sure
to work wonders."
She rose in silence, but with consent in her eyes. Observing that her
movements were unsteady, I gently held her arm and directed her steps
to her berth. She got into her bunk, and I paused to inquire if there
was anything I could do for her.
"Nothing," she answered in a low voice. "I am grateful for your
kindness. Everything has come back to me. Oh, yes, I now remember that
dreadful night--that dreadful night! But you are not deceiving me?"
"In what?"
"You tell me that Don Christoval and his friend are not in this vessel."
"Rest your poor heart, Madame. I swear to you as an English seaman that
they are out of this vessel, and that you will never be troubled by
them again."
"Where are they?" she asked.
"We will talk about them by and by."
She closed her eyes, and I stood beside her a few minutes, then went
out, calling to Tom to come and keep watch, with a threat to rope's-end
him if he shrieked again should the lady suddenly show herself, for
that she was now as sane as he or I was.
I went on deck heartily rejoiced by this restoration of the poor lady's
mind. It cleared me of a heavy load of anxiety. Now I could contemplate
taking charge of the schooner with only Tom to help me until I could
procure further assistance: this I could think of without half the
misgiving which before worked in me when my mind went to it. On my
showing myself, Butler, who was in charge, immediately approached me.
"I see the poor lady's woke up at last, sir."
"Yes," said I.
"And Tom says she has her intellect sound again."
"It is true, and thank God for it," said I.
"Strange, Mr. Portlack," said he, after biting for a moment or two
meditatively on the piece of tobacco in his cheek, "that the poor lady
should come to just at the time that there Spaniard goes off, as one
might say. There's a tarm to fit the likes of such a traverse, but I
forgets it."
"A coincidence," said I.
"Well, that'll do, I dessay, though there's another word a-running in
my head. And how do the lady relish the notion of having stuck the big
Spaniard?"
"Now listen to me, Butler," said I, "and repeat what I am about to
tell to your mates in the most powerful voice you can command, and in
the strongest words you can employ. Under no circumstances whatever,
on no consideration whatever, must the lady be given to know that she
committed that act. Tell her of it, and in all probability you will
drive her mad for good and all."
"There's no fear of any of us ever a-telling her of it," he replied,
with a sort of sulky astonishment working in his face at the energy
with which I had addressed him; "but she'll have to hear of it some of
these days, won't she, sir?"
"Not from us," said I, "and therefore what is going to happen some of
these days will be no business of ours."
"That's true enough," said he.
"There is another point that may be worth our consideration. Briefly,
the lady has now her senses; she has a clear eye, and may very likely
prove to have a keen memory. I will take care that your names are
not known to her; and should she ever come on deck while you remain
on board, I would advise you and your mates to show as little of
yourselves as the navigation of the ship will suffer."
He looked thoughtful, and fell to stroking his chin. "Yes, by thunder!
Mr. Portlack, you're right," he exclaimed. "If she gets to hear our
names, and is able to describe us, why! Tell ye what it is, sir: the
sooner we five men are off, the better; and until we've cleared out, I
hope you won't encourage her to come on deck too often."
Having tasted no food for some hours, I went below, and dispatched
Tom to procure me some supper. While he waited upon me the following
conversation took place between us:
"You must never at any time, or on any occasion, say, either aboard
this schooner or ashore, that the lady in the cabin yonder killed the
Spaniard."
"No, sah."
"If you do, you and I, who are to convey this lady home, will be
charged as accomplices in the awful crime of bloody murder."
"I'll be berry car'fu', sir."
"A single hint from you might lead to you and me being hanged by the
neck until we are dead. On the other hand, if you keep silent, I will
take care that you are rewarded; and if you have had enough of the sea,
I dare say the friends of the lady will find you some comfortable berth
ashore."
The lad's black face was somewhat complicated by expression. There
was mingled fright and delight in his wide grin and the stare of his
large, bland, dusky African eyes.
"Mind!" said I.
And here let me own that my desire that the murder of the Spaniard
should be kept a profound secret was largely--indeed almost wholly--a
selfish one. For, first, I never doubted that, if the girl came to
hear of what she had done, the thought of it working in a brain still
weak with recent craziness would render her incurably mad, and so
immeasurably increase my present anxieties and the trouble I should
be put to to carry her home. Next, I wished the dreadful deed kept
secret, since this singular expedition having caused me trouble and
grief enough already upon the high seas, I was by no means anxious that
darker worries should grow out of it on my arrival on shore.
I saw nothing of the lady that evening, nor, indeed, throughout the
night. Two or three times I knocked upon her door to inquire if she
needed anything, and once only she answered. Her reply satisfied me
that her mind was hers again; that, in short, there had been no relapse
since I had left her. However, to provide against all risk, I arranged
that the seamen should keep a look-out in the cabin as heretofore.
I had charge of the deck from four till eight. It blew continually a
fine breeze of wind, and hour after hour the schooner swept through
it as though driven by powerful engines. I guessed, if the vessel
maintained her present rate of sailing, that the men would be enabled
to leave me before forty-eight hours had passed. Daybreak showed us
several ships on the sea line. They were all of them small vessels, and
standing, with the exception of one, to the north. The man Scott, who
was at the helm, said that it was a pity his mates could not see their
way to transshipping themselves aboard a craft, instead of making for
Cadiz in the cutter.
"Why don't you stop with me?" said I.
"No, no!" he exclaimed.
"But listen. Could not we three--you, me, and the negro boy--carry the
schooner into Penzance, say, where you might go ashore at once, take
the coach for London, and vanish much more entirely than ever you will
by going to Cadiz?"
"No, sir, no; there's to be no going home with me. I should be a fool
to trust myself in England. I'm too respectable a man to live in any
country where I'm 'wanted.'"
"Well, then," said I, "Butler's scheme of the cutter and of Cadiz
is the practicable one, and you must adopt it. You talk of my
transshipping you. What story am I to tell the captain whom I ask to
receive you? You don't look like mutineers, and not one of you is
clever enough to act such a part as would enable me to spin my yarn
without exciting suspicion. Now, suspicion is the last thing we wish to
excite."
"True, sir," said Scott.
It was about a quarter before eight when the negro boy, who had been
preparing the table for my breakfast, came on deck to tell me that the
lady was in the cabin. I looked through the skylight and beheld her
sitting in an arm-chair. She saw me, and bowed with a slight smile.
I lifted the lid of the skylight that I might converse with her, and
called down, "Good morning, Miss Noble. I hope you are feeling very
much better?"
"I am very much better, thank you," she answered, in a voice soft
indeed, but whose tone and firmness were ample warrant of returning
strength.
"I hope to join you shortly. My watch on deck expires in a few minutes.
It is a fine bright morning and there is a noble sailing breeze, and
the schooner is going through the water like a witch."
"I should like to go on deck," she said, "but I have no covering for my
head."
I recommended her to wait till after breakfast, when we would go
to work to see what the schooner could yield her in the shape of
head-gear; and shortly afterward, on Butler arriving to relieve me, I
joined her. She had dressed her hair, and this and the effect of the
comfortable night she had passed had made another being of her. With
her recovery, or, at all events, with her improvement, had reappeared
what I might suppose her habitual nature. Her countenance expressed
decision of character; her gaze was gentle but steadfast; and in the
set of her lips there was such a suggestion of self-control as even my
untutored sea-faring eye could not miss. I now took notice, too, of her
well-bred air. In the hurry and agitation of the preceding day I had
missed this quality, or she may have failed to express it. But now, on
my entering the cabin, and on her rising and extending her hand, I was
instantly sensible of the presence of the high-born lady.
Almost in the first words she pronounced she asked me for my name. I
gave it to her, and with mingled dignity and sweetness she thanked me
for my sympathy and attention. Our discourse was chiefly about her
health, the sort of night she had passed, and the like, while Tom
was putting the breakfast upon the table. We then seated ourselves.
She ate with appetite, but was so reserved at first that I thought
to myself, "Now, Madame, I suppose you intend I shall thoroughly
understand you are a lady of high degree, between whom and a second
mate in the merchant service there stretches a social interval wide
as the Atlantic Ocean; and though I had hoped you would tell me your
story and help me to a clear understanding of Don Christoval and his
expedition, you mean to disappoint me through your new resolution to
assert your dignity."
But never was I more mistaken in a lady's character. I could see her
glancing from time to time at the negro boy, who lost no opportunity
of staring at her in return, as though he expected to see her at
any moment snatch up a knife. I believed I could read her thoughts,
and told the boy to go on deck and stop there till I called him.
She trifled for a bit with her rings; then, with a little show of
nervousness, though her accents did not falter, she said to me:
"Mr. Portlack, from the moment of my fainting on that dreadful night,
down to my awaking yesterday, I seem to remember nothing. I say I
_seem_, and yet I am haunted by a sort of horrid memory--how shall I
express it? It is the shadow of a recollection, and that recollection
again is, as it were," pressing her brow as though struggling to
deeply realize her thought, "no more than the memory of the shadow of
something horrible. Am I meaningless to you?"
"No."
She viewed me anxiously and searchingly, and said, "Have I been mad?"
"You were insensible when you were brought aboard, and you awoke from
your extraordinary stupor for the first time yesterday."
"Mr. Portlack, tell me, have I been out of my mind?"
Hating a lie as I do, I was yet resolved that she should not know the
truth, and I said "No" with so much emphasis that her face instantly
cleared. She smiled, and clasped her hands. "Ah!" she exclaimed,
breathing deep as though she sighed, "in so long and dreadful a slumber
I must have dreamed many fearful dreams."
I wished to disengage her mind from this subject, and I was also
desirous that she should understand, without further loss of time, how
it happened that I made one of the kidnaping gang.
"With your permission," said I, "I will tell you my story, which, I
believe, you will think a strange one even in the experiences of a
sea-faring person."
She watched me with attention, and I proceeded to relate my adventures,
beginning with the Ocean Ranger, and then going on to the American
ship, to my distressful and perilous situation in the open boat, and
then to this schooner La Casandra falling in with me; thus I steadily
worked my way right through my own yarn, omitting nothing save the
incident of the death of Don Christoval. That she was a young lady of
much strength of character I might now be sure of by her manner of
listening to me. I was graphic enough, particularly in my description
of our arrival off the coast of Cumberland; nevertheless, she attended
to me with composure, with firm lips and steady regard. No exclamation
escaped her. Once or twice she sighed, and once she colored, as though
from some sudden passion of resentment swiftly controlled.
"And now, Miss Noble," said I, "I hope I have made you understand how
it happens that I am here?"
"Perfectly," she answered, "and I am glad that you _are_ here, Mr.
Portlack. But you have not told me what has become of Don Christoval
and his friend."
There was nothing for it--I must tell another falsehood; but Heaven
would forgive me, for I meant well. So I answered that I had informed
them, on learning that she was not Madame del Padron, that it was my
intention to carry her home, and that on my arrival my first business
would be to inform against them for having abducted her; whereupon they
had prayed to be transshipped to a passing vessel; to which, after
reflection, I consented, and the two scoundrels were transferred to a
little Portuguese brig on the preceding day.
She sank into thought. After a while she lifted up her head and gazed
slowly and with curiosity round her at the pictures, the mirrors, and
the other furniture in the cabin. Her eyes next went to her bracelets,
and they then met mine. I waited for her to speak.
"How long is it now, Mr. Portlack, since I was stolen from my father's
house?"
"This is the sixth day of your absence."
"What will my father and mother think? They can not have been able to
_do_ anything. That will be the hardest part to my father. They will
have no idea into what part of the world I was to be carried. Will they
even know that this vessel was lying off the coast to receive me?"
"Oh, yes," said I, "they will know that. Some one is certain to have
followed the sailors and the Spaniards as they marched with you to the
boat."
"Would there be any papers, any letters, do you think," said she, "on
the body of the man who you said was killed, from which my father might
learn that this vessel's destination was Cuba?"
"I do not know. Most probably not."
"What a wanton act of wickedness! What unnecessary, barbarous cruelty!"
she exclaimed. "Had I been driven mad, it would not have been strange.
We had just arrived from a ball, when my father cried out that there
was a crowd of men outside. He told me to run upstairs. I can not
imagine that he suspected the errand on which they had come. I believed
that the men had arrived to plunder the house: it is situated on a
lonely part of the coast. I went into a room, and almost at that moment
I heard the report of a gun. The house is an old-fashioned building,
the walls very thick. I was so far away from the hall that no sound
reached me, but in a short time I heard foot-steps, and the noise of
doors violently opened, and the voices of men exclaiming in Spanish.
The door of my room was tried; I had turned the key, but the lock was
an old one. The two Spaniards put their shoulders against the door,
and it flew open; then I recollect a few moments of struggling and
shrieking, and nothing more."
"Did you never fear that Don Christoval would one day or night attempt
to carry you off?"
"Never," she responded, with a note of vehemence disturbing her calm
tones, and I saw a flash in her brown eyes.
"He evidently kept himself acquainted with your movements."
"Yes," she answered; "in another week we were going abroad. We should
have been starting about now, or to-morrow."
"He told me that. Who was the spy he employed, I wonder?"
She reflected, and answered: "No member of our household, I am sure.
What sort of person is Don Lazarillo de Tormes?"
I described him, and perceived by her way of listening that she had
never seen him, and indeed had never heard of him.
"You may take it, Miss Noble," said I, "that whoever Don Lazarillo may
have been, he found the money for this adventure."
"That must have been so," she answered; "Don Christoval is poor."
"Had he any property in Cuba?"
"I believe not," she answered.
"Forgive me for being inquisitive. Was--I mean, is the man in any way
related to you?"
"He is. He is a distant connection on my father's side. His father
was a Spaniard, and, I have always understood, of noble blood. Don
Christoval was in England, and called upon us when we were in London.
We afterward met him in Paris. My father disliked him, and it came to
his forbidding him from holding any communication with us. He then
challenged my brother to a duel, and, unknown to my father and mother,
my brother attended with a friend, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy; but
Don Christoval did not appear. That is entirely all that I can tell you
about the man, Mr. Portlack."
"I felt," said I, "that he was lying when he spoke of you as his wife.
But how was it possible to make sure of the truth, one way or the
other? He put his story so persuasively, his voice was so sweet, he
was so very handsome, that any one believing in his tale could not but
have pitied him, even to the degree of feeling willing to help him to
recover what he called his own."
She slightly colored, and said, "He only wanted my money."
Here I might have complimented her, but I was an off-hand sailor,
without any talent for drawing-room civilities.
I need not dwell at length upon what passed between Miss Noble and me
on this our first opportunity for enjoying a long chat. It was natural
that we should again and again travel over the same ground. Though
she did not repeat her question whether she had been out of her mind,
I noticed, in her references to her state of catalepsy or stupor, a
haunting uneasiness, as though the shadow of some black dream lay
upon her in tormenting shapelessness and illusiveness. I can fancy
that it resembled one of those ideas which visit most of us in our
life-time--the idea that we have felt, suffered, or done something in
another sphere of being.
She was clearly a lady of strong constitution. She showed no traces of
the condition she had been in for nearly a week. One would have thought
to see her haggard, bloodless, famine-pinched, with pale lips and
unlighted eyes; but, making due allowance for the costume of crimson
dressing-gown and for the absence of divers finishing details of
toilet, I could not conceive that she, at any time in her life, could
have looked much better than she now did. May be her profound sleep
had cleansed her countenance of the dreadful marks which the talons
of the fiend Madness commonly grave upon the human face. Be this as it
may, her health seemed excellent as I sat conversing with her at that
breakfast-table; her calm voice had the true music of good breeding;
her remarks exhibited no common order of perception and good sense,
and to my mind--though it is said that sailors are easy to please--she
needed no other face than her own, with its soft brown eyes, and purely
feminine lineaments, and dark red hair, massive, abundant, and glowing,
to be as fascinating a lady as a man could hope to meet with in English
or any other society.
I had, in the course of our conversation, told her very honestly what
the sailors intended to do. I added that they were right in endeavoring
to escape from the consequences of a wrong into the perpetration of
which they had been basely betrayed by the lies of Don Christoval and
his friend. I had then explained that I should be left alone in the
schooner with the negro boy, but that I had not the least doubt of
promptly obtaining all the help I needed to carry the vessel safely and
comfortably home. This made her ask how long it might take us to reach
home.
"Eight or ten days," I answered.
"What, meanwhile, am I to do for clothes?" said she; and, with
something of unconsciousness in her manner, as though her fingers were
governed by a thought in her head, she opened her dressing-gown and
revealed herself in ball attire.
Though she had been thus appareled for a week there seemed to be
nothing soiled, nothing faded, in this aspect of her. It was the
suddenness of the revelation, I dare say, that gave to her form the
brilliance I found in it. Then, there was also the contrast of the
rich crimson dressing-gown to heighten this instant splendor of attire
and the incomparable whiteness of her neck and shoulders, though these
were still defaced by several long, ugly black scratches. She buttoned
the dressing-gown to her throat again, and said, with a smile full of
self-possession, but sweetened by a little expression of sadness:
"This is not the kind of dress that one would wear at sea, Mr.
Portlack."
"It is very beautiful," said I in my simple way.
"The skirt is badly torn," she exclaimed. "Those wretches must have
treated me very roughly, even after I had fainted."
"You certainly will require warmer clothing than that ball-dress," said
I. "Stay! an idea occurs to me. Was it Don Christoval--yes, I believe
it was Don Christoval, who informed me--who implied rather--that he had
made some provisions for you in the matter of dress." I shouted through
the skylight for Tom. The boy arrived. "Go and ask Mr. Butler," said I,
"if he can tell me in what part of the vessel Captain Dopping stowed
the wearing apparel which was taken on board by Don Christoval for the
use of this lady."
The boy went on deck. Presently Butler's head showed in the skylight.
There was a shawl round his throat, that covered his mouth to the
height of his nostrils, and he wore a sou'-wester, the forward thatch
of which he had turned down, while the ear-lappets hid his cheeks. It
was clear he did not intend that Miss Noble should see more of his face
than might serve him to breathe with.
"Beg pardon, sir," he said in a muffled hurricane note, talking through
his shawl. "Here's this here Tom come with some message from you,
and I don't know what he means." I explained. "Ho! yes," said he; "I
understand now. There's a chest of garments, I believe, stowed away
down in the lazareet."
In less than twenty minutes the negro lad and I had explored the
lazarette, discovered the chest, lugged it into Miss Noble's cabin,
and there left it open. All that it contained I could not tell you,
but when I next saw Miss Noble she was wearing a green dress of some
light, good material, the waist of which was secured by a band, and on
her head was a plain straw hat of a sort to prove very serviceable to a
lady at sea.