She instantly became serious. She kept silence for a while, without raising her eyes from the tablecloth. Then she said with an affected indifference, not free from severity:
"You have breakfasted fairly well, have you not? But on board the food is better than at hotels."
I kept silent for a while, in turn. Without responding to her question, after a moment I said:
"Pardon me. We sailors express ourselves too frankly. We are not versed in etiquette, but our intentions must excuse us. Mine were not to say anything impertinent."
She was immediately mollified, and we continued our chat with the same cordiality until the end of the breakfast.
I went back to the ship in a worse state than that of the day before. The lady occupied my thoughts more than was desirable for content or peace of mind. I went back again that afternoon and again the next day. Her interesting figure, her eyes--so black, so innocent, and so piquant at the same time, were rapidly penetrating my soul. And as always happens in such cases, her eyes first began to please me and then her voice began to enchant me; soon it was her fine hands, like alabaster; a little after that the soft veil of hair that adorned her temples; immediately thereupon, three little dimples in her right cheek. At last I found happiness in a certain defective way she had of pronouncing the letter R.
These and other discoveries of like importance could not be made, it is evident, without due attention, all of which, instead of pleasing the lady, annoyed her visibly. She always received me cordially, but not with her former frankness of manner. I observed, not without pain, that in spite of the gayety and animation of her conversation she revealed a bit of disquiet in the depths, as if fearing that I might again say something unwelcome. While comprehending this, nevertheless I had not the force of will to stop gazing at her more than I should.
At last the wig was brought in secret to the hotel. Doña Amparo tried it on in the most absolute privacy; she found it imperfect. It was returned to the hands of its maker; various changes were effected in it without either the public or the authorities becoming aware of the fact, and after various trials equally secret the good lady emerged as fresh and juvenile as if my sinful hands had never attacked her charms. For in spite of all--that is, in spite of the wig, of years, and of obesity--Doña Amparo had not completely lost her charms.