In the darkness I heard the voice of Otomie that said, 'Awake, I would
speak with you,' and there was that about her voice which stirred me
from my heavy sleep.
'Speak on,' I said. 'Where are you, Otomie?'
'Seated at your side. I cannot rest, so I am seated here. Listen. Many,
many years ago we met, when you were brought by Guatemoc from Tobasco.
Ah! well do I remember my first sight of you, the Teule, in the court
of my father Montezuma, at Chapoltepec. I loved you then as I have loved
you ever since. At least I have never gone astray after strange gods,'
and she laughed bitterly.
'Why do you talk of these things, Otomie?' I asked.
'Because it is my fancy to do so. Cannot you spare me one hour from your
sleep, who have spared you so many? You remember how you scorned me--oh!
I thought I should have died of shame when, after I had caused myself
to be given to you as wife, the wife of Tezcat, you told me of the
maid across the seas, that Lily maid whose token is still set upon
your finger. But I lived through it and I loved you the better for your
honesty, and then you know the rest. I won you because I was brave and
lay at your side upon the stone of sacrifice, where you kissed me and
told me that you loved me. But you never loved me, not truly, all the
while you were thinking of the Lily maid. I knew it then, as I know it
now, though I tried to deceive myself.
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