"I am lost in amazement," he exclaimed, "at the surprises which seem to meet me at every turn! When will they cease?"
"Not until you have found your affinity, Cacami; have made your proposal, and surprised us with a denouement," replied the tzin pleasantly, little dreaming that his friend had already found his affinity in his own dear sister, and that a surprise would come out of it, in comparison with which the surprise of Cacami at his declaration would be as nothing—but we anticipate.
Euetzin was not yet sufficiently recovered to bear moving, and as Cacami would be obliged to wait or return to Tezcuco without him, the latter, on learning of the tzin's desire that Mitla should return quickly as might be to her people, proposed that he and his men should be her escort. Euetzin thanked him for the suggestion, and accepted it as a most opportune way out of a very peculiar dilemma.
A transformation now took place, and Hualla ceased to be, except in the recollections of the tzin, as an inseparable factor in a portion of his experience which he could never forget, and which went to make up the most eventful period of his life; while Mitla, happy in the consciousness of a requited love—though realizing that her beauty was somewhat marred by the unnatural darkness of her complexion—sat by the bedside of her afflicted lover listening to the words of endearment which he was speaking.
"Hualla, the noble lad, to whom I owed so great a debt, is no more," he was saying; "yet he will never be forgotten. He has left a legacy to you, Mitla, in my gratitude for his brave conduct in my behalf. Thus you will have a double portion: my gratitude to him, and my best love for your dear self. Are you not happy, Mitla?"
"Yes, Euetzin, more happy than I can tell," was her reply; still, her actions did not warrant it. The thought that she must part from him at this time pressed heavily upon her heart, and when she had spoken, she dropped her head upon the hand which she was holding; as she did so, a tear trickled down over her cheek and fell upon it.
"Why, Mitla!" exclaimed the tzin, anxiously, "you are in tears! What has disturbed you?"
"They are tears of joy, Euetzin, mingled with sadness—sadness that I am about to leave you, and you so ill. I would remain to nurse you back to health, but you have advised, wisely, no doubt, that I should go; and I feel restrained, against inclination, to do so, that my people may no longer mourn for me as lost."
"Yes, Mitla, it will be better so. I will soon be well—thanks to you—and back in Tezcuco, where you shall early join me, to go away no more; then our happiness will be complete. You must be brave; it were not like Hualla to weep," spoke the tzin, persuasively.
"I will weep no more, Euetzin; you shall see that she whom you love is brave, even as Hualla," she replied, wiping away her tears.