CHAPTER XVIII
THE NAMING OF THE BRIDES
Now some months passed between the date of my naming as the god
Tezcat and the entry of the Spaniards into Mexico, and during all
this space the city was in a state of ferment. Again and again
Montezuma sent embassies to Cortes, bearing with them vast
treasures of gold and gems as presents, and at the same time
praying him to withdraw, for this foolish prince did not understand
that by displaying so much wealth he flew a lure which must surely
bring the falcon on himself. To these ambassadors Cortes returned
courteous answers together with presents of small value, and that
was all.
Then the advance began and the emperor learned with dismay of the
conquest of the warlike tribe of the Tlascalans, who, though they
were Montezuma's bitter and hereditary foes, yet made a stand
against the white man. Next came the tidings that from enemies the
conquered Tlascalans had become the allies and servants of the
Spaniard, and that thousands of their fiercest warriors were
advancing with him upon the sacred city of Cholula. A while passed
and it was known that Cholula also had been given to massacre, and
that the holy, or rather the unholy gods, had been torn from their
shrines. Marvellous tales were told of the Spaniards, of their
courage and their might, of the armour that they wore, the thunder
that their weapons made in battle, and the fierce beasts which they
bestrode. Once two heads of white men taken in a skirmish were
sent to Montezuma, fierce-looking heads, great and hairy, and with
them the head of a horse. When Montezuma saw these ghastly relics
he almost fainted with fear, still he caused them to be set up on
pinnacles of the great temple and proclamation to be made that this
fate awaited every invader of the land.
Meanwhile all was confusion in his policies. Day by day councils
were held of the nobles, of high priests, and of neighbouring and
friendly kings. Some advised one thing, some another, and the end
of it was hesitation and folly. Ah! had Montezuma but listened to
the voice of that great man Guatemoc, Anahuac would not have been a
Spanish fief to-day. For Guatemoc prayed him again and yet again
to put away his fears and declare open war upon the Teules before
it was too late; to cease from making gifts and sending embassies,
to gather his countless armies and smite the foe in the mountain
passes.
But Montezuma would answer, 'To what end, nephew? How can I
struggle against these men when the gods themselves have declared
for them? Surely the gods can take their own parts if they wish
it, and if they will not, for myself and my own fate I do not care,
but alas! for my people, alas! for the women and the children, the
aged and the weak.'
Then he would cover his face and moan and weep like a child, and
Guatemoc would pass from his presence dumb with fury at the folly
of so great a king, but helpless to remedy it. For like myself,
Guatemoc believed that Montezuma had been smitten with a madness
sent from heaven to bring the land to ruin.
Now it must be understood that though my place as a god gave me
opportunities of knowing all that passed, yet I Thomas Wingfield,
was but a bubble on that great wave of events which swept over the
world of Anahuac two generations since. I was a bubble on the
crest of the wave indeed, but at that time I had no more power than
the foam has over the wave. Montezuma distrusted me as a spy, the
priests looked on me as a god and future victim and no more, only
Guatemoc my friend, and Otomie who loved me secretly, had any faith
in me, and with these two I often talked, showing them the true
meaning of those things that were happening before our eyes. But
they also were strengthless, for though his reason was no longer
captain, still the unchecked power of Montezuma guided the ship of
state first this way and then that, just as a rudder directs a
vessel to its ruin when the helmsman has left it, and it swings at
the mercy of the wind and tide.
The people were distraught with fear of the future, but not the
less on that account, or perhaps because of it, they plunged with
fervour into pleasures, alternating them with religious ceremonies.
In those days no feast was neglected and no altar lacked its
victim. Like a river that quickens its flow as it draws near the
precipice over which it must fall, so the people of Mexico,
foreseeing ruin, awoke as it were and lived as they had never lived
before. All day long the cries of victims came from a hundred
temple tops, and all night the sounds of revelry were heard among
the streets. 'Let us eat and drink,' they said, 'for the gods of
the sea are upon us and to-morrow we die.' Now women who had been
held virtuous proved themselves wantons, and men whose names were
honest showed themselves knaves, and none cried fie upon them; ay,
even children were seen drunken in the streets, which is an
abomination among the Aztecs.
The emperor had moved his household from Chapoltepec to the palace
in the great square facing the temple, and this palace was a town
in itself, for every night more than a thousand human beings slept
beneath its roof, not to speak of the dwarfs and monsters, and the
hundreds of wild birds and beasts in cages. Here every day I
feasted with whom I would, and when I was weary of feasting it was
my custom to sally out into the streets playing on the lute, for by
now I had in some degree mastered that hateful instrument, dressed
in shining apparel and attended by a crowd of nobles and royal
pages. Then the people would rush from their houses shouting and
doing me reverence, the children pelted me with flowers, and the
maidens danced before me, kissing my hands and feet, till at length
I was attended by a mob a thousand strong. And I also danced and
shouted like any village fool, for I think that a kind of mad
humour, or perhaps it was the drunkenness of worship, entered into
me in those days. Also I sought to forget my griefs, I desired to
forget that I was doomed to the sacrifice, and that every day
brought me nearer to the red knife of the priest.
I desired to forget, but alas! I could not. The fumes of the
mescal and the pulque that I had drunk at feasts would pass from my
brain, the perfume of flowers, the sights of beauty and the
adoration of the people would cease to move me, and I could only
brood heavily upon my doom and think with longing of my distant
love and home. In those days, had it not been for the tender
kindness of Otomie, I think that my heart would have broken or I
should have slain myself. But this great and beauteous lady was
ever at hand to cheer me in a thousand ways, and now and again she
would let fall some vague words of hope that set my pulses
bounding. It will be remembered that when first I came to the
court of Montezuma, I had found Otomie fair and my fancy turned
towards her. Now I still found her fair, but my heart was so full
of terror that there was no room in it for tender thoughts of her
or of any other woman. Indeed when I was not drunk with wine or
adoration, I turned my mind to the making of my peace with heaven,
of which I had some need.
Still I talked much with Otomie, instructing her in the matters of
my faith and many other things, as I had done by Marina, who we now
heard was the mistress and interpreter of Cortes, the Spanish
leader. She for her part listened gravely, watching me the while
with her tender eyes, but no more, for of all women Otomie was the
most modest, as she was the proudest and most beautiful.
So matters went on until the Spaniards had left Cholula on their
road to Mexico. It was then that I chanced one morning to be
sitting in the gardens, my lute in hand, and having my attendant
nobles and tutors gathered at a respectful distance behind me.
From where I sat I could see the entrance to the court in which the
emperor met his council daily, and I noted that when the princes
had gone the priests began to come, and after them a number of very
lovely girls attended by women of middle age. Presently Guatemoc
the prince, who now smiled but rarely, came up to me smiling, and
asked me if I knew what was doing yonder. I replied that I knew
nothing and cared less, but I supposed that Montezuma was gathering
a peculiar treasure to send to his masters the Spaniards.
'Beware how you speak, Teule,' answered the prince haughtily.
'Your words may be true, and yet did I not love you, you should rue
them even though you hold the spirit of Tezcat. Alas!' he added,
stamping on the ground, 'alas! that my uncle's madness should make
it possible that such words can be spoken. Oh! were I emperor of
Anahuac, in a single week the head of every Teule in Cholula should
deck a pinnacle of yonder temple.'
'Beware how you speak, prince,' I answered mocking him, 'for there
are those who did they hear, might cause YOU to rue YOUR words.
Still one day you may be emperor, and then we shall see how you
will deal with the Teules, at least others will see though I shall
not. But what is it now? Does Montezuma choose new wives?'
'He chooses wives, but not for himself. You know, Teule, that your
time grows short. Montezuma and the priests name those who must be
given to you to wife.'
'Given me to wife!' I said starting to my feet; 'to me whose bride
is death! What have I to do with love or marriage? I who in some
few short weeks must grace an altar? Ah! Guatemoc, you say you
love me, and once I saved you. Did you love me, surely you would
save me now as you swore to do.'
'I swore that I would give my life for yours, Teule, if it lay in
my power, and that oath I would keep, for all do not set so high a
store on life as you, my friend. But I cannot help you; you are
dedicated to the gods, and did I die a hundred times, it would not
save you from your fate. Nothing can save you except the hand of
heaven if it wills. Therefore, Teule, make merry while you may,
and die bravely when you must. Your case is no worse than mine and
that of many others, for death awaits us all. Farewell.'
When he had gone I rose, and leaving the gardens I passed into the
chamber where it was my custom to give audience to those who wished
to look upon the god Tezcat as they called me. Here I sat upon my
golden couch, inhaling the fumes of tobacco, and as it chanced I
was alone, for none dared to enter that room unless I gave them
leave. Presently the chief of my pages announced that one would
speak with me, and I bent my head, signifying that the person
should enter, for I was weary of my thoughts. The page withdrew,
and presently a veiled woman stood before me. I looked at her
wondering, and bade her draw her veil and speak. She obeyed, and I
saw that my visitor was the princess Otomie. Now I rose amazed,
for it was not usual that she should visit me thus alone. I
guessed therefore that she had tidings, or was following some
custom of which I was ignorant.
'I pray you be seated,' she said confusedly; 'it is not fitting
that you should stand before me.'
'Why not, princess?' I answered. 'If I had no respect for rank,
surely beauty must claim it.'
'A truce to words,' she replied with a wave of her slim hand. 'I
come here, O Tezcat, according to the ancient custom, because I am
charged with a message to you. Those whom you shall wed are
chosen. I am the bearer of their names.'
'Speak on, princess of the Otomie.'
'They are'--and she named three ladies whom I knew to be among the
loveliest in the land.
'I thought that there were four,' I said with a bitter laugh. 'Am
I to be defrauded of the fourth?'
'There is a fourth,' she answered, and was silent.
'Give me her name,' I cried. 'What other slut has been found to
marry a felon doomed to sacrifice?'
'One has been found, O Tezcat, who has borne other titles than this
you give her.'
Now I looked at her questioningly, and she spoke again in a low
voice.
'I, Otomie, princess of the Otomie, Montezuma's daughter, am the
fourth and the first.'
'You!' I said, sinking back upon my cushions. 'YOU!'
'Yes, I. Listen: I was chosen by the priests as the most lovely in
the land, however unworthily. My father, the emperor, was angry
and said that whatever befell, I should never be the wife of a
captive who must die upon the altar of sacrifice. But the priests
answered that this was no time for him to claim exception for his
blood, now when the gods were wroth. Was the first lady in the
land to be withheld from the god? they asked. Then my father
sighed and said that it should be as I willed. And I said with the
priests, that now in our sore distress the proud must humble
themselves to the dust, even to the marrying of a captive slave who
is named a god and doomed to sacrifice. So I, princess of the
Otomie, have consented to become your wife, O Tezcat, though
perchance had I known all that I read in your eyes this hour, I
should not have consented. It may happen that in this shame I
hoped to find love if only for one short hour, and that I purposed
to vary the custom of our people, and to complete my marriage by
the side of the victim on the altar, as, if I will, I have the
right to do. But I see well that I am not welcome, and though it
is too late to go back upon my word, have no fear. There are
others, and I shall not trouble you. I have given my message, is
it your pleasure that I should go? The solemn ceremony of wedlock
will be on the twelfth day from now, O Tezcat.'
Now I rose from my seat and took her hand, saying:
'I thank you, Otomie, for your nobleness of mind. Had it not been
for the comfort and friendship which you and Guatemoc your cousin
have given me, I think that ere now I should be dead. So you
desire to comfort me to the last; it seems that you even purposed
to die with me. How am I to interpret this, Otomie? In our land a
woman would need to love a man after no common fashion before she
consented to share such a bed as awaits me on yonder pyramid. And
yet I may scarcely think that you whom kings have sued for can
place your heart so low. How am I to read the writing of your
words, princess of the Otomie?'
'Read it with your heart,' she whispered low, and I felt her hand
tremble in my own.
I looked at her beauty, it was great; I thought of her devotion, a
devotion that did not shrink from the most horrible of deaths, and
a wind of feeling which was akin to love swept through my soul.
But even as I looked and thought, I remembered the English garden
and the English maid from whom I had parted beneath the beech at
Ditchingham, and the words that we had spoken then. Doubtless she
still lived and was true to me; while I lived should I not keep
true at heart to her? If I must wed these Indian girls, I must wed
them, but if once I told Otomie that I loved her, then I broke my
troth, and with nothing less would she be satisfied. As yet,
though I was deeply moved and the temptation was great, I had not
come to this.
'Be seated, Otomie,' I said, 'and listen to me. You see this
golden token,' and I drew Lily's posy ring from my hand, 'and you
see the writing within it.'
She bent her head but did not speak, and I saw that there was fear
in her eyes.
'I will read you the words, Otomie,' and I translated into the
Aztec tongue the quaint couplet:
Heart to heart,
Though far apart.
Then at last she spoke. 'What does the writing mean?' she said.
'I can only read in pictures, Teule.'
'It means, Otomie, that in the far land whence I come, there is a
woman who loves me, and who is my love.'
'Is she your wife then?'
'She is not my wife, Otomie, but she is vowed to me in marriage.'
'She is vowed to you in marriage,' she answered bitterly: 'why,
then we are equal, for so am I, Teule. But there is this
difference between us; you love her, and me you do not love. That
is what you would make clear to me. Spare me more words, I
understand all. Still it seems that if I have lost, she is also in
the path of loss. Great seas roll between you and this love of
yours, Teule, seas of water, and the altar of sacrifice, and the
nothingness of death. Now let me go. Your wife I must be, for
there is no escape, but I shall not trouble you over much, and it
will soon be done with. Then you may seek your desire in the
Houses of the Stars whither you must wander, and it is my prayer
that you shall win it. All these months I have been planning to
find hope for you, and I thought that I had found it. But it was
built upon a false belief, and it is ended. Had you been able to
say from your heart that you loved me, it might have been well for
both of us; should you be able to say it before the end, it may
still be well. But I do not ask you to say it, and beware how you
tell me a lie. I leave you, Teule, but before I go I will say that
I honour you more in this hour than I have honoured you before,
because you have dared to speak the truth to me, Montezuma's
daughter, when a lie had been so easy and so safe. That woman
beyond the seas should be grateful to you, but though I bear her no
ill will, between me and her there is a struggle to the death. We
are strangers to each other, and strangers we shall remain, but she
has touched your hand as I touch it now; you link us together and
are our bond of enmity. Farewell my husband that is to be. We
shall meet no more till that sorry day when a "slut" shall be given
to a "felon" in marriage. I use your own words, Teule!'
Then rising, Otomie cast her veil about her face and passed slowly
from the chamber, leaving me much disturbed. It was a bold deed to
have rejected the proffered love of this queen among women, and now
that I had done so I was not altogether glad. Would Lily, I
wondered, have offered to descend from such state, to cast off the
purple of her royal rank that she might lie at my side on the red
stone of sacrifice? Perhaps not, for this fierce fidelity is only
to be found in women of another breed. These daughters of the Sun
love wholly when they love at all, and as they love they hate.
They ask no priest to consecrate their vows, nor if these become
hateful, will they be bound by them for duty's sake. Their own
desire is their law, but while it rules them they follow it
unflinchingly, and if need be, they seek its consummation in the
gates of death, or failing that, forgetfulness.
