The Fair God; or, The Last of the 'Tzins: A Tale of the Conquest of Mexico

by Lew Wallace

  CHAPTER III.

  HOW ILLS OF STATE BECOME ILLS OF SOCIETY.

  By this time, Io', the prince, had acquired somewhat of the importanceof a man. Thanks to Hualpa, and his own industry, he could hurl ajavelin, strike stoutly with a _maquahuitl_, and boast of skill with thebow. As well he might, he smiled at thought of the maternal care, andfrom his sisters demanded a treatment due to one of his accomplishmentsand dignity.

  The day after the incidents narrated in the preceding chapter, heentered Tula's apartment, and requested her to dismiss her attendants.

  "Sit down, my brother," she said, when they were alone. "You look vexed.What has happened?"

  Going to a table close by, he commenced despoiling a vase of flowers.She repeated the question.

  "I am glad," he answered, "to find one whom the coming of the strangershas not changed."

  "What now?"

  "I have been again and again to see Nenetzin, but she refuses me. Is shesick?"

  "Not that I know."

  "Then why is she so provoking?"

  "My brother, you know not what it is for a girl to find her lover.Nenetzin has found hers."

  "It is to talk about him I want to see her."

  "You know him! How? when?"

  "Do I not see him every day? Is he not my comrade?"

  "Your comrade!"

  "The lord Hualpa! He came to you once with a message from the 'tzin."

  To a woman, the most interesting stories are those that have to do withthe gentle passion. Seeing his mistake, she encouraged it.

  "Yes, I remember him. He is both brave and handsome."

  Io' left the vase, and came to her side. His curiosity was piqued.

  "How came you to know he was her lover? He would hardly confess it tome."

  "Yet he did tell you?" she answered, evasively.

  "Yes. One day, tired of practising with our slings, we lay down in theshade of a ceiba-tree. We talked about what I should do when I became aman. I should be a warrior, and command armies, and conquer Tlascala; heshould be a warrior also, and in my command. That should not be, I toldhim, as he would always be the most skilful. He laughed, but not asmerrily as I have heard him. Then he said, 'There are many things youwill have learned by that time; such as what rank is, and especiallywhat it is to be of the king's blood.' I asked him why he spoke so. Hesaid he would tell me some day, but not then. And I thought of the timewe went to meet you at the _chinampa_, and of how he gave you a vasefrom the 'tzin, and one to Nenetzin from himself. Then I thought Iunderstood him, but insisted on his telling. He put me off; at last hesaid he was a foolish fellow, and in his lonely haunts in Tihuanco hadacquired a habit of dreaming, which was not broken as he would like. Hehad first seen Nenetzin at the Quetzal' combat, and thought herhandsomer than any one he had ever met. The day on the lake he venturedto speak to her; she smiled, and took his gift; and since that he hadnot been strong enough to quit thinking about her. It was great folly,he said. 'Why so?' I asked him. He hid his face in the grass, andanswered, 'I am the son of a merchant; she is of the king's blood, andwould mock me.' 'But,' said I, 'you are now noble, and owner of apalace.' He raised his head, and looked at me; had she been there, shewould not have mocked him. 'Ah,' he said, 'if I could only get her tocease thinking of me as the trader's son!' 'Now you are foolish,' I toldhim. 'Did you not win your rank by fighting? Why not fightfor'--Nenetzin, I was about to say, but he sprang up and ran off, and itwas long before I could get him to speak of her again. The other day,however, he consented to let me try and find out what she thought ofhim. To-morrow I rejoin him; and if he asks me about her, what can Isay?"

  "So you wished to help your poor comrade. Tell me what you intendedsaying to her."

  "I intended to tell her how I was passing the time, and then to praisehim for his courage and skill, his desire to be great, hisgentleness--O, there are a thousand things to say!"

  Tula smiled sorrowfully. "Did you imagine she would learn to love himfrom that?"

  "Why not?" asked Io', innocently.

  "I cannot explain now; time will teach you. My brother, long will anAztec woo before he wins our wayward sister!"

  "Well," he said, taking her hand, "what I wanted to say to her will comebetter from you. Ah, if you but knew him as I and the 'tzin do!"

  "Does the 'tzin so love him?"

  "Was he not a chosen messenger to you?"

  She shook her head doubtfully. "I fear she is beyond our little arts.Fine speeches alone will not do. Though we painted him fair as Quetzal',and set the picture before her every hour in the day, still it would notbe enough. Does he come often to the city?"

  "Never, except for the 'tzin."

  "We must get them together. Let me see,--ah, yes; the _chinampa_! Wehave not been there for a long time, and that will be an excuse forgoing to-morrow. You can bring the lord Hualpa, and I will take aminstrel, and have him sing, and tell stories of love and lovers."

  She stopped, and sighed, thinking, doubtless, how the 'tzin's presencewould add to the pleasure of the meeting. At that moment the curtain ofthe door was flung aside, and Nenetzin herself came in, looking vexedand pouting.

  "Yesterday was too much for my sister," said Tula, pleasantly. "I hopeshe is well again."

  "I slept poorly," was the reply.

  "If you are sick, we will send to the temples--"

  "No, I hate the herb-dealers."

  "What ails you, Nenetzin?" asked Io', irritated.

  "Who would not be ailing, afflicted as I have been? One graceless fellowafter another calling to see me, until I am out of patience!"

  Io' colored, and turned away.

  "But what if they had news," said Tula; "something from the strangers?"

  Nenetzin's face brightened. "What of them? Have they waited on ourfather?"

  "Have they, Io'?" Tula asked.

  He made no answer; he was angry.

  "Well, well! what folly! You, Io', I shall have to send back to the'tzin; and, Nenetzin, fie! the young lords would be afraid to see younow."

  "The monkeys!"

  Io', without a word, left the room.

  "You are too hard, Nenetzin. Our brother wants to be treated like a man.Many of the young lords are his friends. When you came in, he wastelling me of the fine fellow who saved our father's life."

  Nenetzin appeared uninterested.

  "From Io's account, he must be equal to the 'tzin. Have you forgottenhim?"

  "I have his vase somewhere."

  "Somewhere! I hope you have not lost it. I received one at the sametime; there mine is,--that one filled with flowers."

  Nenetzin did not look.

  "When he made you the gift, I think he meant more than a compliment. Heis a lover to be proud of, and, sister, a smile might win him."

  "I do not care for lovers."

  "Not care to be loved?"

  Nenetzin turned to her with tearful eyes. "Just now you said Io' wantedto be treated as a man; for the same reason, O Tula, I want to betreated as a woman. I do want to be loved, but not as children are."

  Tula put her arm around her, lovingly. "Never mind. I will learn betterafterwhile. I treat you as a child from habit, and because of the warm,sweet love of our childhood. O that the love would last always!"

  They were silent then, each intent upon her separate thought, bothunconscious that the path theretofore so peacefully travelled togetherwas now divergent, and that the fates were leading them apart forever.Of all the evil angels of humanity, that one is the most cruel whosemission it is to sunder the loves of the household.

  "Nenetzin, you have been crying,--over what? Lean on me, confide in me!"

  "You will make light of what I say."

  "When was I a jester? You have had ills before, childish ills; if I didnot mock them, am I likely to laugh at your woman's troubles?"

  "But this is something you cannot help."

  "The gods can."

  "A god is the trouble. I saw him, and l
ove him better than any ourfather worships."

  Bold confirmation that of the elder sister's fears. "You saw him?" sheasked, musingly.

  "And know him by name. _Tonatiah, Tonatiah_: is it not pretty?"

  "Are you not afraid?"

  "Of what? Him? Yes, but he is so handsome! You saw him also. Did you notnotice his white forehead, and the brightness of his blue eyes, thesunshine of his face? As against him, ah, Tula! what are the lords youwould have me love?"

  "He is our father's enemy."

  "His guest; he came by invitation."

  "All the gods of our race threaten him."

  "Yet I love him, and would quit everything to follow him."

  "Gods ask not the love we give each other."

  "You mean he would despise me. Never! I am the daughter of a king."

  "You are mad, Nenetzin."

  "Then love is madness, and I am very mad. O, I was so happy yesterday!Once I thought he saw me. It was when he was passing the _coatapantli_.The base artisan was shouting, and he heard him, or seemed to, for heraised his glance to the _azoteas_. My heart stood still; the airbrightened around me; if I had been set down in the Sun itself, I couldnot have been happier."

  "Have you mentioned this to the queen Acatlan?"

  "Why should I? I will choose my own love. No one, not even my mother,would object to the king Cacama: why should she when my choice isnobler, handsomer, mightier than he?"

  "What do you know of the strangers?"

  "Nothing. He is one of them; that is enough."

  "I meant of their customs; marriage, for instance."

  "The thought is new."

  "Tell me, Nenetzin: would you go with him, except as his wife?"

  She turned away her glowing eyes, confused. "I know not what I would do.If I went with him except as his wife, our father would curse me, and mymother would die. I shudder; yet I remember how his look from a distancemade me tremble with strange delight."

  "It was magic, like Mualox's."

  "I do not know. I was about to say, if such was his power over me at adistance, what may it be near by? Could I refuse to follow him, if heshould ask me face to face, as we now are?"

  "Avoid him, then."

  "Stay here, as in a prison! Never look out of doors for fear of seeinghim whom I confess I so love! And then, the music, marching, banquets:shall I lose them, and for such a cause?"

  "Nenetzin, the strangers will not abide here in peace. War there willbe. The gods have so declared, and in every temple preparation is nowgoing on."

  "Who told you so?" the girl asked, tremulously.

  "This morning I was in the garden, culling flowers. I met Mualox. Heseemed sad. I saluted him, and gave him the sweetest of my collection,and said something about them as a cure for ills of the mind. 'Thankyou, daughter,' he said, 'the ills I mourn are your father's. If you canget him to forego his thoughts of war against Malinche, do so at anyprice. If flowers influence him, come yourself, and bring your maidens,and gather them all for him. Leave not a bud in the garden.' 'Is he sobent on war?' I asked. 'That is he. In the temples every hand is makingready.' 'But my father counsels otherwise.' The old man shook his head.'I know every purpose of his soul.'"

  "And is that all?" asked Nenetzin.

  "No. Have you not heard what took place in the _tianguez_ this morning?"

  And Tula told of the appearance of the horse and the stranger's head;how nobody knew who placed them there; how they were thought to havecome from Huitzil', and with what design; and how the wish for war wasspread, until the beggars in the street were clamoring. "War there willbe, O my sister, right around us. Our father will lead the companiesagainst Malinche. The 'tzin, Cuitlahua, Io', and all we love best of ourcountrymen will take part. O Nenetzin, of the children of the Sun, willyou alone side with the strangers? _Tonatiah_ may slay our greatfather."

  "And yet I would go with him," the girl said, slowly, and with sobs.

  "Then you are not an Aztec," cried Tula, pushing her away.

  Nenetzin stepped back speechless, and throwing her scarf over her head,turned to go.

  The elder sister sprang up, conscience-struck, and caught her. "Pardon,Nenetzin. I did not know what I was saying. Stay--"

  "Not now. I cannot help loving the stranger."

  "The love shall not divide us; we are sisters!" And Tula clung to herpassionately.

  "Too late, too late!" sobbed Nenetzin.

  And she passed out the door; the curtain dropped behind her; and Tulawent to the couch, and wept as if her heart were breaking.

  Not yet have all the modes in which ills of state become ills of societybeen written.