said, blushing beneath her olive
skin as she spoke.

'Surely a god may sit where he chooses, royal Otomie,' I answered;
'besides,' I added in a low voice, 'what better place can he find than
by the side of the most lovely goddess on the earth.'

Again she blushed and answered, 'Alas! I no goddess, but only a mortal
maid. Listen, if you desire that I should be your companion at our
feasts, you must issue it as a command; none will dare to disobey you,
not even Montezuma my father.'

So I rose and said in very halting Aztec to the nobles who waited on
me, 'It is my will that my place shall always be set by the side of the
princess Otomie.'

At these words Otomie blushed even more, and a murmur went round among
the guests, while Guatemoc first looked angry and then laughed. But the
nobles, my attendants, bowed, and their spokesman answered:

'The words of Tezcat shall be obeyed. Let the seat of Otomie, the royal
princess, the favoured of Tezcat, be placed by the side of the god.'

Afterwards this was always done, except when I ate with Montezuma
himself. Moreover the princess Otomie became known throughout the city
as 'the blessed princess, the favoured of Tezcat.' For so strong a hold
had custom and superstition upon this people that they thought it the
greatest of honours to her, who was among the first ladies in the land,
that he who for a little space was supposed to hold the spirit of the
soul of the world, should deign to desire her companionship when he ate.
Now the feast went on, and presently I made shift to ask Otomie what all
this might mean.

'Alas!' she whispered, 'you do not know, nor dare I tell you now. But I
will say this: though you who are a god may sit where you will to-day,
an hour shall come when you must lie where you would not. Listen: when
we have finished eating, say that it is your wish to walk in the gardens
of the palace and that I should accompany you. Then I may find a chance
to speak.'

Accordingly, when the feast was over I said that I desired to walk in
the gardens with the princess Otomie, and we went out and wandered under
the solemn trees, that are draped in a winding-sheet of grey moss which,
hanging from every bough as though the forest had been decked with the
white beards of an army of aged men, waved and rustled sadly in the keen
night air. But alas! we might not be alone, for after us at a distance
of twenty paces followed all my crowd of attendant nobles, together with