“Spare me,” she said, covering her face with her hands. “I am his child; I love him yet.”
“So I know,” he replied; “and I would not have you do else. The love is proof of fitness to be loved. Nature cannot be silenced. He is not as near to me as to you; yet I feel the impulse that moves you, though in a less degree. In memory, he is a part of my youth. For that matter, who does not love him? He has charmed the strangers; even the guards at his chamber-door have been known to weep at sight of his sorrow. And the heroes who so lately died before his prison-gates, did not they love him? And those who will die to-morrow and the next day, what else may be said of them? In arms here, see the children of the valley. What seek they? In their eyes, he is Anahuac. And yet—”
He paused again; her hands had fallen; her cheeks glistened with tears.
“If I may not speak plainly now, I may not ever. Strengthen yourself to hear me, and hear me pitifully. To begin, you know that I have been using the king’s power without his permission,—that, I say, you know, and have forgiven, because the usurpation was not of choice but necessity, and to save the empire; but you will hear now, for the first time probably, that I could have been king in fact.”
Her gaze became intent, and she listened breathlessly.
“Three times,” he continued, “three times have the caciques, for themselves and the army, offered me the crown. The last time, they were accompanied by the electors,[48] and deputations from all the great cities.”
“And you refused,” she said, confidently.
“Yes. I will not deny the offer was tempting,—that for the truth. I thought of it often; and at such times came revenge, and told me I had been wronged, and ambition, whispering of glory, and, with ready subtlety, making acceptance appear a duty. But, Tula, you prevailed; your love was dearer to me than the crown. For your sake, I refused the overture. You never said so,—there was no need of the saying,—yet I knew you could never be queen while your father lived.”
Not often has a woman heard such a story of love, or been given such proofs of devotion; her face mantled, and she dropped her gaze, saying,—
“Better to be so loved than to be queen. If not here, O ’tzin, look for reward in the Sun. Surely, the gods take note of such things!”