CHAPTER VII.
Are the refinements and delicate sensibilities of the spirit confined tothe highborn and polished? They are undoubtedly the offspring of nature:Education supplies their place only by the substitutes of affectation.Though poverty may crush, though wretchedness and evil habits maycorrupt and extinguish them, yet they throb in the breasts of the lowly,during the days of youth, and are not always banished even by therigours of manhood. They dwell under the painted lodge of the barbarian,and they burn even in the heart of the benighted heathen.
Let us fancy the moonlight streaming over the lake of Tezcuco. The moonis in her first quarter, and the evening-star, almost her rival inlustre and magnitude, precedes her in the blue paths of the west. Thegolden radiance of sunset trembles no more on the mountain peaks; butthe thin vapours floating through the zenith, are yet gleaming faintlywith the last expiring glories of day. The birds are at rest in thegarden of Mexico,--all save the little madrugadores, that yet chirpmerrily in the trees, and the centzontli, who leaves her ravishingmelody, to mock them with their own music, made yet more musical. Thebreeze sleeps among the boughs, or it stirs only through the poplarleaves, and its rustling sound is mingled with the hum of a thousandnocturnal insects. In such a night, one forgets that man is not anangel. We see not the frown of malevolence in the sky; we hear not thestep of the betrayer on the grass; nor does the dew-drop, falling fromthe leaf, admonish us of the tears that are streaming, hard by, insorrow. In such a night, the feelings of the kind are kindest, thethoughts of the pure, purest; youth gathers about it the mantle of hope,and hope whispers in the voice of affection. At such a time, it is goodto look into the hearts of the youthful, and forget the excitements ofyears. A draught from the waters of Clitorius was fabled to extinguishthe thirst for wine.[10] He who can creep into the bosoms of the young,and drink of the fountain of innocent affections, will turn withloathing from the impure and maddening currents, that convert the humanfamily into a race of moral Bacchanals.
[Footnote 10:
Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit Vina fugit.
_Metam. Lib._ XV.]
Can we think that among the worshippers of the ferocious Mexitli, andthe fierce invaders of his people, there were none with natures worthyof a better belief, and a nobler cause? Destiny had thrown together two,at least, whose spirits were but little tainted with the evil of theirplace and their day,--in whom, perhaps, feeling rather than reason, hadset a talisman that left them incorruptible. A good heart is to man whatthe galvanic bar of the philosopher was to the ship's copper-sheathing.It gives this protection, at least, that, through the whole voyage oflife, it preserves the integrity of the vessel. The barnacle and theremora will indeed deaden its course, but the metal remains clean andbright: the billows of the world waste their corrosive powers only onthe protector. Morality itself is two-fold; it is of the head, and ofthe heart. The first belongs to the philosopher, the second to the poet.The one is an abstraction of reason; the other an exhortation ofpassion. The morality of the head is the only one that is just; but itis loveliest and best when the heart enforces its precepts. With goodhearts, Juan Lerma and the princess of Mexico, moved among thecorruptions of superstition, uncorrupted; and preserved to themselves,unabated and unsullied, the pure and gentle feelings, which nature hadshowered upon them at their birth.
The moon, falling aslant upon the garden, lighted the countenances ofthe young Spanish exile and the orphan child of Montezuma, as theyrested upon the summit of a little artificial mound, ornamented withcarved stone seats and rude statuary, constructed for the purpose ofoverlooking the walls. The visage of the Christian was illumined bypensive smiles, and his lips breathed gently and fervently the accentsthat were sweetest to the ears of the Indian maiden. But did hediscourse of worldly affection and passion to one so ignorant andartless? A nobler spirit animated the youth. He spoke of the faith ofChristians, and laboured with more than the zeal, though not perhapswith the wisdom of the missionary, to impress its divine truths upon themind of his hearer. If his arguments were somewhat less cogent andlogical than might have been spoken, it must be remembered that hisreligion was like that which will perhaps belong to the majority ofChristians to the end of the world,--a faith of the heart, which thehead has not been accustomed to canvass.
He directed her eyes to the moon, to the evening star, and to thoseother celestial wanderers, by which the heart of man was 'secretlyenticed,' even before the days of the perfect man of Uz.
"They are the little bright heroes that hang down from the house ofOmeteuctli, king of the city of heaven," said the poor infidel,--"allsave Meztli," (the moon) "who is the king of night, brother ofTonatricli," (the sun) "god of the burning day. This is what they say ofthe two gods: There were men on the earth, but wicked: the ancient gods,the sons of Ipalnemoani killed them. Then Ometeuctli sent forth from thecity of heaven his sons, who descended to Mictlan,--the dark hell,--bythe road that leads between the Fighting Mountains, and the EightDeserts,--and stole the bones of men, that Mictlanteuctli had heaped upin his cavern. The sons of Ometeuctli sprinkled the bones with theirblood; and these men lived again, and the sons of Ometeuctli were theirrulers and fathers. But the earth was dark,--it was night over theworld, and the only light was the fire which they kindled and keptburning in the vale of Teotihuacan. The sons of Ometeuctli pitied themen they had revived; and, to give them light, they burned themselves inthe fire. Ometeuctli, their father, then placed them in thesky,--Tonatricli the first born, to be the sun, Meztli to be the moon,and the others to be stars. So they hang in heaven, turned to fire: andmen built pyramids to them, on the place of burning, Micoatl, the Fieldof Death.[11] They are very good gods, for they shine upon us."
[Footnote 11: The vale of San Juan de Teotihuacan, where stand the greatpyramids of the Sun and Moon, and the smaller mounds erected to theStars.]
"Forget these idle fables," said Juan, with a gentleness much morejudicious than any zeal could have been. "Forget, too, Mexitli,Painalton, Quetzalcoatl, Centeotl, and the thousand vain beings ofimagination, with which your priests have peopled the world. Think onlyof the great _Teotl_, whom you have called Ipalnemoani,--the great God,the only God,--for there is no other than He, and the rest are butfables. Yonder moon and stars are not divinities, but great globes likethis on which we live; and to worship them is a sin--it angersIpalnemoani, who is the only God,--the Creator,--whom all men worship,though under different names. Worship but Ipalnemoani, and in mode as Iwill tell thee, and thou art already almost a Christian."
"But is not Christ another god of the Spaniards?" said the maiden,doubtfully.
"The Son of God, a portion of God, and God himself," replied theChristian, launching at once into all the theological metaphysics withwhich he was acquainted, and succeeding in confounding the mind of thepoor barbarian, without being very sensible of the confusion of his own.But if he could not teach her how to distinguish between categories, notreducible to order and consistency by the poor aids of human language,he was able to interest her in the fate and character of the divineRedeemer, by no other means than that of relating his history. And it isthis, to which men must chiefly look for instruction, belief, andrenovation, without reference to dogmas and creeds; for here all findthe unanimity of belief and feeling, which entitles them to the claimsof fraternity.
When Juan had excited her sympathy in the character of the Messiah, hebegan to discourse upon the object and the ends of his mission. Butunfortunately the doctrine of original sin, with which he set out, hadin it something extremely repugnant to the rude ideas of the child ofnature. It inferred a native wickedness in all, to be banished only bybelief; and it seemed at once to place _her_ in an humble and degradedlight, in the eyes of the young Christian.
"What has Zelahualla done," she said, with maidenly pride, "that theking's brother should make her out wicked?"
At this application of the doctrine, Juan was somewhat staggered in hisown belief. He looked at the mild eyes of the catechumen, beami
ng asfrom a spirit without stain and without guile, and he said to himself,'How can this be? for she has known no sin?' His imagination wanderedamong the moral and religious precepts stored in his memory, and settledat last with the triumph of a controversialist, as well as thesatisfaction of a Christian, upon the first rules of thedecalogue,--broken in ignorance, and therefore he doubted not, easilyatoned. He told her that the worship of false gods was a sin, and homageshown to idols of wood and stone a deep iniquity; and these being commonto all benighted people, he satisfied himself, and perhaps her, thatthey were unanswerable proofs of the existence of natural depravity. Buta stronger light was thrown upon the maiden's mind, when he showed itseffects in the scene of bloodshed, commenced long since in the days ofher sire, and now about to be terminated in a war of massacre.
"He of whom I speak," he said, "came into the world, in order that thesethings should cease. He offers men peace and good-will; and when menacknowledge him and follow his commands, peace and good-will will reignover the whole world. Think not, because my countrymen are sometimesunjust, and often cruel, that our divine Leader is the less divine.These are the wickednesses of their nature, not yet removed by full orjust belief; for the belief of some is insufficient, of othersperverted, and some, though they profess it, have no belief at all.Know, then, that our religion, justly considered, and with a pure mindnot selfish, has its great element in _affection_. It teaches love ofheaven, and, equally love of man. It denounces the wrong-doer, who is asa fire, burning away the cords that bind men together in happiness; andit exalts the good man, who unites his fellows in affection. It punishesvicious deeds and forbids evil thoughts; for with these, there can be nohappiness and peace. This it does upon earth; and it prepares for theworld beyond the grave, in which no human passion or infirmity candisturb the perfect purity and enjoyment, of which the immortal spiritis capable."
Thus he conversed, and thus, guided by the native bias of his mind,dwelt upon that feature of our heavenly faith, of which it requires noaid of enthusiasm to perceive the amiableness and beauty. "_Peace andgood-will to all!_"[12] There is a charm in the holy sentence, at oncethe watchword and synopsis of religion, that thrills to the hearts evenof those, who, to obtain the base immortality of renown, are willing toexchange it for the war-cry of the barbarian, the _Vae victis!_ of ahero.
[Footnote 12: According to the Vulgate, the good tidings of great joyoffered peace only 'to men of good-will,'--_pax hominibus bonaevoluntatis_,--which, whether the translation be right or wrong,undoubtedly destroys the sublimity of the conception, by narrowing downthe benevolence of the deity, and deprives of the blessing of peace thatmajority of men, who, _not_ being men of good-will, have the greatestneed of it.]
Thus far, then, the heart of the Indian maiden was softened, andtears,--not of penitence, for it never entered her mind that she hadanything to repent,--tears of gentle and pleasurable emotion stole intoher eyes, as she listened to tenets explained by one so revered andbeloved.
"The religion that my lord loves, is good; and Zelahualla shall know noother."
"God be praised for this then," said Juan, fervently; "for now is thedesire of my heart fulfilled, mine errand accomplished; and I will die,when I am called, cheerfully; knowing that thou wilt follow me toheaven. Now do I perceive that heaven works good in our misfortunes. Themiseries that I have lamented,--the hatred of Don Hernan, the malice ofmy foes, my downfall, my condemnation,--what were they but the stepswhich have led me to effect thy conversion and salvation? God be praisedfor all things! and God grant that the seeds of the true faith, now sownin thy heart, may grow and flourish, till transplanted into paradise!"
Thus saying, Juan fell upon his knees, and invoked blessings upon theproselyte, who knelt beside him, confirmed greatly in her new creed bythe evident pleasure her conversion, if it could be so called, had givenhim.
"Know now, Zelahualla," he said, as he raised her from the ground, andfolded her in an embrace that had more of the gentle affection of abrother, than the ardent passion of a lover, "that now thou art dearerto me than all the world beside. While thou wert a worshipper of idols,I wept for thee; now that thou art a Christian, I love thee; and throughthis storm of war, that is gathering around thee, I will remain toprotect thee, and, if need be, to perish by thy side."
"What my lord is, that will I be," said the young princess, with suchlooks of confiding affection as belong to the unsophisticated child ofnature--"Yes, Zelahualla will be a Christian,--Juan's Christian,"--forshe had been long since instructed to pronounce the name of her youngfriend--"and she will think of none but him--"
She paused suddenly, and disengaged herself from the arms of theCastilian, who, looking round, beheld almost at his side, surveying himwith manifest satisfaction, the young king of Mexico. The gorgeousmantles of state were upon his shoulders, the golden sandals and_copilli_, or crown, bedecked his feet and head; and though nosceptre-bearers or other noble attendants followed at his heels, hisappearance was not without dignity, and even majesty.
He stepped forward, and taking the princess by the hand, said to Juan,
"The Centzontli is the king's sister;--thus said I, when Montezuma livedno more; for the Spaniards have killed the sons of the king, and whoremains to be her brother? It is enough--the Eagle of the east is theking's brother.--The king will speak with his brother."
At this signal, the maiden stooped humbly over Guatimozin's hand, kissedit with mingled love and respect, and immediately stole from the mound.
"My brother beheld me among my people," said Guatimozin, as soon as shewas gone. "What thinks he of the warriors of Mexico?"
"They are numerous as the sands and leaves. But hear the words of himwho knows the Spaniards as well as the Mexicans. Before a blow isstruck, speak good things to Cortes. Acknowledge thyself the vassal ofSpain, and rule for ever."
"Is my brother yet a Spaniard? and does he tell me this thing?"
"If I anger thee, yet must I speak! for I speak with the heart of onegrateful to thyself and friendly to the race of Montezuma. As a trueSpaniard, I should counsel thee to resist; for resistance would excuserapacity. How wilt thou fight upon this island, with thine enemies roundabout thee? They will sit down and sleep, while the king perishes withhunger."
"The houses are garners," replied Guatimozin, proudly: "There is foodprovided for many days; and how shall the big ships see the peasant'scanoe, when it brings corn in the night-time?"
"The lake is broad, but thou knowest not of all the craft and skill ofthy foes. Think then of _this_: Can a man drink the water of the saltlake and canals? Are the pipes of Chapoltepec under the mountains? TheSpaniards will tear them up from the causeways; and the warriors willdespair for drink."
"Is Guatimozin a fool?" exclaimed the royal barbarian, with a laugh."The rains have begun to fall; and for seven[13] months, the sky will bemy fountain. Is not Malintzin mad, that he should besiege me at thisseason? He is not a god!"
[Footnote 13: Mexican months, of twenty days each.]
"Were it for thrice seven months," said Juan, "be assured that Corteswill still remain by thy city, awaiting its downfall."
"And what shall be done by the warriors of Mexico? Will they look fromthe island, and wring their hands, till he departs? For every grain ofcorn in the garners of Tenochtitlan, there is an arrow in the quivers ofthe warriors. Count the bones that lie in the ditches of Tacuba,--numberthe bearded skulls that are piled on the Huitzompan, the trophiesgathered from the Spaniards in the night of their flight,--there are notso many living men in the camp of Malintzin, as perished that night whenwe drove them from Mexico."
"Dost thou hold, then, for nothing the two hundred thousand Tlascalans,Tezcucans, Chalquese, Totonacs, and other tribes, that follow withCortes?"
"There are but three roads to Mexico.--Can they hurt me from theshores?"
"The ships are fourteen more; and by and by, there will be no canoe thatswims the lake, but will bear the soldiers of Don Hernan. Think notresistance can do aught but protrac
t the fate of thine empire, andincense the miseries of its subjects. Its history is written. Heaven isangry with your gods and with your acts. The blood of human sacrifices,detestable in the eyes of divinity, calls for revenge. Alas, thou didstthis day condemn a poor Spaniard to the altar, and thus stain thineinstallation with cruelty! God will punish the Mexicans for this."
The eyes of Guatimozin flashed in the moonlight with indignation.
"Is not the prisoner," he cried, "the prey of the victor? The Spaniardburns the captive in the shoulder, and makes him a slave. Which iscruel? The prisoner and the felon we give to the gods--it is good. Didthe Eagle ever behold a Mexican chain men to a stake, and burn them withfire? Yet he saw Malintzin burn the Chief of Nauhtlan and the fifteenwarriors, in the palace-yard, in a great fire made with Mexican bows andarrows! Which, then, is cruel?"
"This act I will not defend," said Juan, "and it was my presumption incensuring it, that made Cortes my enemy. But, prince, let us speak ofthese things no more, for our arguments shake not each other's minds.Let me speak of myself, for it is just thou shouldst know my resolve. Iam thy friend, but I will not lift my hand against my countrymen."
The countenance of the king darkened:
"Is not the Great Eagle brave? He fears his enemies!"
"I fear _nothing_," said Juan, with conscious dignity, "else would Ispeak no words to lose thy favour. I will be thy prisoner, thysacrifice, if thou wilt.--I lament the fate that is coming upon thee,but I cannot fight in thy cause."
Guatimozin eyed him earnestly, as if to read his soul; and then said, alittle softly,
"The Great Eagle knows all things: he shall rest in the palace all day,and at night, speak wise things to the king."
"Neither in this can I aid thee," replied Juan, resolutely. "What I knowof religion and moral duties,--nay, all that I know of civilized arts,that are not military,--this much I am free to communicate; but nothingmore. I can no more help thee to fight with my knowledge, than with myarm."
This was a declaration of principles somewhat above the powers of theinfidel to appreciate, and it filled him, as Juan saw, with seriousdispleasure. He took him by the arm, and spoke sternly and evenmenacingly:
"The faith of a Christian is not that of a Mexican. The Indian kills hisfoes and the foes of his friend: the Christian forgets his friend, whenhis friend is in trouble."
Juan was stung by the reproach, and replied with emphasis:
"The king took me from the prison-house of Tezcuco: the block was inwaiting for me. Who talked to me of prisons and of blocks, before Olincame to the garden?"
Guatimozin grasped his hand, and spoke with impetuosity,--
"I have said the thing that was false, and my brother does _not_ forgethis friend. He did a good deed to Olin; why should he turn his face fromGuatimozin? Was Olin in greater distress than the king, beset by enemieswho cannot be counted? My brother has looked in the face of theCentzontli, my sister.--The princes of the city, and the kings of thetribes, have said, each one, 'Give me the daughter of Montezuma, and Iwill die for Mexico.' But the king thought of his brother. Thus it shallbe: the Great Eagle shall take the princess for his wife, and be aMexican; and then, when Guatimozin entreats him to strike his foe, hewill call upon his god of the cross,--the Mexitli of the Spaniards,--andstrike with all his force. Is it not so?"
"Prince!" said Juan, sadly, "even this cannot be. According to ourthoughts, there are sins of the deepest turpitude in acts which yourcustoms cause you to esteem virtues. The Spaniard may change hiscountry, but he cannot become the foe of his countrymen. What wouldstthou think of one of thine own people,--thy friend, thy subject--whomthou shouldst find among the Spaniards, and aiming his weapon againstthee?"
"There are many thousands of them," said Guatimozin, giving way topassion. "Malintzin fights with weapons more destructive than the bigthunder-pipes. He goes among the serfs that pay tribute, and he says,'Pay no more--Is it not better to be free?' Thus he seduces them. But mybrother shall think of this again. And now he shall eat and sleep."
So saying, and perhaps thinking it unwise to pursue his designs at thepresent moment, he drew Juan from the mound, and was leading him towardsthe palace, when the sound of voices and footsteps came from the bottomof the garden, accompanied by the fierce barking of Befo, who was stillconfined in the cage.
"Now do I remember me," said Juan, with a feeling of shame, "that I havesuffered the noble animal--"
But his words were cut short by an unexpected circumstance. No soonerhad his voice sounded, than a wild cry burst from a neighbouring copse,and a female figure, pursued by Mexican warriors, rushed forwards,calling upon him by name, and by a title that had never before blessedhis ears.
"Juan! Juan! my brother! oh, my brother!"
It was Magdalena,--her hair disordered and drooping in the damp air ofevening, her face, as far as it could be seen in the imperfect light,pale and distracted. No sooner did her eyes behold him than sheredoubled her speed, and throwing herself upon his neck, she cried, withtransports of emotion, while the pursuers gathered round in no littleamazement.
"Oh, Juan! my brother! pardon me and forgive me; for I am yoursister,--yes, your sister, your own sister,--and I have come to die withyou!"
Confounded as much by the strange declaration as by her presence, Juanendeavoured gently to disengage himself from her embrace, but all invain. She clasped his neck with tenfold strength, weeping and exclaiminghe scarce knew what; and, though much affected, he began to think thatsorrow and passion had turned her brain. What therefore was hissurprise, when he gathered from her incoherent exclamations, thatCamarga, the masking stranger, who had, on three several occasions,betrayed such an unaccountable desire to take his life, had, even withhis dying lips, pronounced them brother and sister. His heart thrilledat the thought; for his affection for the singular being whose destinyof mourning was so like his own, had ever been great, though chilled andpained by the belief of her unworthiness. He pursued the idea with athousand questions, the answers to which provoked his curiosity, whilethey damped his hope. Was Camarga their father? and was he dead? Whatdid he say? What,--no more than _this_--'He was her brother?' No more?And no one alive to confirm the story? "Alas," he said, his thoughtsreverting to what he remembered of his childhood; "this fancy has mademe as distracted as thyself. Camarga was a dreamer--an evident madman._My_ father died at Isabela in the island; for was not I at his side?This cannot be, Magdalena;--deceive thyself no longer."
"Speak not to me of deceit, my brother--for my brother thou art," saidMagdalena, vehemently. "Can my heart deceive me? Is it not the work ofheaven, seen in our whole life? Heaven kept thee--yes, Juan, whileheaven punished _me_ the sin of neglected vows with the torments ofunavailing affection--it kept thee from loving me as much, because thouwert my brother. Yes, this it is! The angels spoke with the lips of thatman, who now lies dead on the lake-side! But what of that, Juan? We willgo to Cortes--I can win thy forgiveness. Alas, alas! I could have savedthee before, but thou madest me mad. Why didst thou treat me so, Juan? Iwas innocent--indeed I was; and Hilario's recantation--oh believe me, Iknew not of his murder, till it was accomplished! Villafana killed himfrom fear, for Hilario had discovered how he scuttled the ship; and thusit was that Hilario gained Villafana to corroborate the falsehoods hespoke of me. I can make all clear to thee, indeed I can.--But now, dearJuan, cast me not off again,--for you are my brother. We will go toCortes,--he will pardon thee. We will find out the friends of Camarga,and it must needs be that we shall discover all. And then I will go to aconvent again,--and then I care not what befalls me; for I shall have abrother in the world left to love me."
While Magdalena was pouring forth these wild expressions, for a timealmost unconscious of her situation in the heart of the pagan city, andin the presence of so many barbarians, Guatimozin, who had looked onwith an astonishment that was soon converted into the darkestdispleasure, turned to the capturers of Magdalena, who had ceased theirpursuit the moment they beheld the king, and flung themsel
ves reverentlyat his feet. The Lord of Death, who made the like prostration, hadassumed an erect posture, in virtue of his high rank. But his lookswandered from the king to the Christian pair, whose endearments hewatched with exceeding great satisfaction, and indeed with exultation.
"What is this that I see?" said the king, in a low but stern voice; "andwho hath brought this woman to my garden?"
Masquazateuctli bent his head to the earth, replying with thecomplacency of one who has achieved a happy exploit,--
"The king made the Great Eagle of the East his brother; he took him tothe hill of Chapoltepec that his people might know him, and do himhonour. Shall not Masquazateuctli do a good thing to the king's brother?He was sorry because of his loneliness in the king's garden, and theMaiden of the East was afar in Tezcuco. I thought of this, and I creptto the gates of Tezcuco: and I said, 'I will take a prisoner for theking, and perhaps I shall find a maiden with white brows; which willgladden the heart of the king's brother.' Mexitli was with me. But Ikilled the man that came with her, for I saw she was that daughter of agod, with eyes like the full moon, of whom the king had spoken, when hecame from Tezcuco alone, and my heart was very joyful. The Eagle isglad--he will not ask the king for the daughter of Montezuma!"
Guatimozin muttered a fierce interjection betwixt his teeth, but repliedwith dignity,
"The Lord of Death should have spoken this to the king; but if he beangry, he remembers that Masquazateuctli was Montezuma's soldier. By andby, I will speak with him in the palace.--I have said."
The Lord of Death, thus dismissed, and not a little mortified at suchinsufficient thanks, beckoned to his followers and departed.
Guatimozin strode up to the Christians, and touching Juan on theshoulder, said, with a stern voice,
"What shall the king say of his brother, to the daughter of Montezuma?"
The colour rushed into Juan's cheeks; but he replied immediately, andeven firmly,
"That he brings her his sister, to whom, for his own sake, he prays herto be kind and gentle."
"Does my brother tell me this?" said the king, starting. "The GreatEagle said he was alone in the world, with none of his kin remaining."
"And so I thought, until this hour," said Juan, not withoutembarrassment: "and now must I tell the king, that though I call thismaiden my sister, and pray heaven she may prove so, yet neither she norI have aught upon which to found our belief, but the words of one whomthe Lord of Death killed, when he seized her."
Guatimozin intently eyed the maiden, who watched with painful interestthe changes of his countenance and Juan's, for she understood not a wordof their speech; and then said,
"Let it be so: Guatimozin will think of this. The Spanish lady iswelcome--the Eagle shall speak with her a little, and then give her upto the women, that they may be good to her.--The king's house is veryspacious."
He then turned gravely away, signing to the outcast pair to follow him.
They were suffered to be alone together for a brief hour, in whichMagdalena, rejecting impetuously and passionately all Juan's doubts,poured out all the secrets of a life full of unhappiness, but not ofcrime; and Juan himself, forgetting the weakness of all her claims ofconsanguinity, melted into belief, and learned to call her his sister.There were indeed certain circumstances of mystery about his birth,which might have often disturbed his thoughts, had he been of animaginative turn. The man whom he had called and esteemed his father,had died a violent death in the islands, while Juan was yet very young.He could recollect little of him that was agreeable to remember; and allthat had afterwards come to his ears, only served to chill hiscuriosity; all persons, who had not forgotten him, representing theelder Lerma as a most depraved and infamous man. No one knew whence hehad come, or if he had any relatives left in the world; and Juanremembered well, that the planters had, on several occasions, when theunnatural parent, if parent he was, had maltreated and abandoned him,taken him away from Lerma, and comforted Juan with the assurance thatthe villain had undoubtedly _stolen_ him from some one. It is, however,very certain that Juan never seriously thought of doubting that this manwas his parent; nor would he have recalled such trivial circumstances tohis mind, had he not been staggered by the impetuosity of Magdalena, andby his own feelings of affection, into a credulity almost as ample asher own. That he should desire also to find a relative in one, who,considered without reference to the weakness shown only in her love forhim, was of a soul as stainless as it was noble, is not to be doubted;and such love he could be rejoiced to return. In truth, his reasons foradmitting her claims were as flimsy as hers for making them, as he cameto discover, when left to examine them in solitude. They made, however,a deep and lasting impression upon his mind. Perhaps the impressionwould have been still deeper, had the two been permitted to remainlonger together; but before Magdalena had yet been able to speak withcomposure, there came a train of maidens, bearing chaplets of flowers,and rich ornaments of feathers, giving Juan to understand, that it wasthe king's will his companion should now leave him.
Magdalena turned pale, when this command was announced to her by Juan,and seemed at first as if resolved never to be parted from him more. Butbeing persuaded by Juan that she had nothing to fear--that the king washis friend--that they should certainly meet again,--she at lastconsented. She strode to the door--she listened to his words offarewell, and she sobbed upon his breast; and then departed with thehappy but delusive hope of seeing him again on the morrow.
It was the last night of peace that ever darkened over the Mexico of thepagans.