'Yes, beloved, it is I,' she murmured; 'they have suffered that I nurse
you, devils though they are. Oh! that I must see you thus and yet be
helpless to avenge you,' and she burst into weeping.
'Hush,' I said, 'hush. Have we food?'
'In plenty. A woman brought it from Marina.'
'Give me to eat, Otomie.'
Now for a while she fed me and the deadly sickness passed from me,
though my poor flesh burned with a hundred agonies.
'Listen, Otomie: have you seen de Garcia?'
'No, husband. Two days since I was separated from my sister Tecuichpo
and the other ladies, but I have been well treated and have seen no
Spaniard except the soldiers who led me here, telling me that you were
sick. Alas! I knew not from what cause,' and again she began to weep.
'Still some have seen you and it is reported that you are my wife.'
'It is likely enough,' she answered, 'for it was known throughout the
Aztec hosts, and such secrets cannot be kept. But why have they treated
you thus? Because you fought against them?'
'Are we alone?' I asked.
'The guard is without, but there are none else in the chamber.'
'Then bend down your head and I will tell you,' and I told her all.
When I had done so she sprang up with flashing eyes and her hand pressed
upon her breast, and said:
'Oh! if I loved you before, now I love you more if that is possible, who
could suffer thus horribly and yet be faithful to the fallen and your
oath.
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