The throng of courtiers about the emperor gave way involuntarily. The
foremost, on reaching the temple portal, instantly knelt before the monarch,
uncovered his head with one hand, and with the other extended towards him
a single diamond of wonderful size and beauty. Every eye that beheld it
instantly acknowledged it to be the counterpart of that on the imperial
crown.

`Montezuma!' cried a thousand tongues, both of cavalier and bondman.

`I am Montezuma,' was the reply of the young man, rising from his bended
knee, and glancing proudly around.

The shouts restored the princess to consciousness — to joy — to life! She
beheld him living whom she believed dead! She beheld him victorious
where death had ever before been conqueror! She was too exquisitely
happy to move — to speak. Her heart would have flown to his embrace,
yet her eyes, as his softening glance fell on her for whom he had achieved
so much, were the only messengers and indices of her overflowing joy and
love she could command! The emperor gazed bewildered; he seemed to
doubt the convincing evidence of his senses.

I have returned, your majesty,' he said, turning again towards the throne,
and speaking with respectful modesty, `to claim the reward of my success;'
and here his glance fell on the princess. `Behold the twin diamond to that
in the imperial diadem upon thy brow.'

As he spoke, he elevated it aloft, in juxtaposition with that on the crown,
and held it to every eye in full comparison. A general exclamation from
the assembled courtiers acknowledged the resemblance. Montezuma then
placed it in the hands of the monarch.

Without a word the emperor rose to his feet, and taking the hand of the
trembling and joyful Eylla, he placed it in that of Montezuma. The heart
of every one present, not even excepting the emperor himself, as thus the
princely pair stood together before the throne, confessed that Nature had
formed them for each other, though hitherto Fortune had placed them widely
apart. The loud acclamations that hailed this act of the monarch ceased
at a wave of his hand. He then thus addressed Montezuma,

`Take her, Montezuma the First! The word of an emperor is pledged
and is redeemed! The deity hath destined thee to become the founder
of a new dynasty of kings. Long may thy race live upon the throne, and
peacefully reign!'

The high priest then advanced, and while they kneeled together before
him, he anointed them with sacred oil, and then joining their hands, performed
the simple rite that united them forever.

`May the deity bless you, my children,' he said, lifting above their heads
his aged hands. `The spirit of prophecy tells me that a thousand years
will be the end of thy empire! that the last of thy name shall become the
slave to a warrior whose advance shall be with the rising sun, and whose
coming shall be from a world unknown to us.'

The bride and bridegroom then rose to their feet, and faced the assembled
multitude, while the skies shook with the acclamations that hailed their
union.

`Now let the sacrifice be offered, for 't is high noon,' said the emperor.
`I will then resign my crown and sceptre, and give to the service of the gods
the residue of my life.'

The high priest waved a silver wand, and the temple was suddenly filled

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`What do you suspect, my noble princess?' asked the maiden, with alarm,
on witnessing the glowing cheek of her mistress.

`I cannot tell — I dare not think. I may be wrong, and judge him. Place
the vase here. The fragrance is too sweet and the flower too fresh to contain
poison,' she said, examining without touching it.

`Poison?' repeated the Peruvian, with terror.

`Did he hold it himself in his hands?' she asked of the maiden.

`A long time.'

`Did he inhale the fragrance?'

`He did, and so did the Tlascalan.'

`Then I fear I have been uncharitable to my cousin. Send thy companion,
Telitza, hither.'

Tzitzis left the apartment, and the princess once more bent over the vase
and examined the beautiful gift of the prince, with mingled admiration and
suspicion.

`I know not what all this means,' she said, aloud. `It is not courtesy;
for after our parting he would be little likely to show it me. It is not to
open the way for a reconciliation, (though a flower, as every one knows,
were ever to me a most welcome messenger,) or why should he have been
willing to let the donor's name be withheld. It hath something evil at the
bottom of it. Perhaps it possesses the power Tzitzis spoke of, to convert
indifference into love. I will at least test it. There is plainly — horrible
though! but it will not out of my mind — no poison in its fragrance or
touch, or they would not have held it. I will test its power to charm a
maiden's heart, — for such purpose alone can he have sent it to me. Shame
on the Prince Palipan! to seek by spells to win a true woman's love. I will
prove its power at once — and, if it be proven — the whole empire shall ring
with the baseness of this dishonorable prince. Not a maiden in all the land,
but would cry shame on such a man; not a knight or serf but would deride
such a princely wooer. Here comes my pretty Telitza. She hath been
suddenly waked from deep sleep, and her large, lustrous eyes, look wild with
the surprise and light.'

As she spoke, Tzitzis entered with a young Peruvian girl, who had scarcely
reached her seventeenth summer, with a brown, beautiful face, and long
and shining raven hair. Her figure was full and exquisitely rounded, and
in its motions soft and pliant as those of the gracefully moving tapir of her
own forests. Her large black eyes wore a startled look, like an alarmed
deer's, while every other instant the heavy lids, on which sleep sat heavily,
would droop over them till the curved fringe would rest on her cheek. She
was of less stature than Tzitzis, and her beauty was far less spirituelle. The
princess smiled to see her struggling between sleep and wakefulness, and
said, kindly,

`Come hither, Telitza. I would show you a rare flower.'

The maiden's languor suddenly left her at the sound of her mistress' voice,
and going forward, she kneeled beside the vase, and gazed upon the otol
with an expression of admiration.

`Telitza,' said the princess, carelessly, `methinks you and the handsome
page of my lord Cuiri are of late somewhat estranged. Hath there been a
quarrel?'

`I never loved him enough to quarrel with him, my princess,' said the
slave, blushing.

`Then my cousin and I should have well loved,' she said, aside. `But,

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empire of the Mexitili, which, for the sins of its kings, hath been punished
for seven hundred years. The book of destiny is sealed again for a thousand
years! Then new gods shall be worshipped on thy altars, and temples
shall be dedicated to a virgin, instead of condemning her, a victim upon its
altars. Priest! behold thy sacrifice. Heaven receive the oblation!'

Instantly the altar-pyre was supernaturally enveloped in lambent flame,
which, after burning a moment, separated from the altar, and ascended with
her, as it were, a chariot with eagles towards the sun, till lost to the eye in
the dazzling glory of its noon-tide blaze.

The emperor then turning to Montezuma, said,

`Noble prince! May Heaven, that hath so many centuries kept your race
in exile and obscurity, preserve you now that they have restored you to the
throne. Thy sister is full fair,' he said, as the rescued virgin threw herself
upon Montezuma's neck. `This Sismarqui should prove at least noble
now.'

`I will make him noble, your majesty,' said Montezuma. `Come hither,
Sismarqui. There is my sister's hand. Kneel both, and let the high priest
perform for thee the kind office he hath done for me.'

One tremulous moment of mingled awe and delight, kneeling together,
hand in hand, beneath the uplifted hands of the priest, repaid both for all
past suffering.

`Now, we will return to the throne-room, where I will resign my crown
and sceptre to my children, and bury the vexing cares of state forever in
oblivion.'

The throne-room again was thronged, presenting, with its assembled
courtiers, a similar appearance to that which it exhibited before the procession
moved to the temple. But now, the emperor was seated on his throne,
with his sceptre in his right hand, and his crown upon his head. Montezuma
and the princess were standing before it. Silence reigned over the
multitude. The emperor rose with dignity from the throne, and descended
three steps, and taking the princess by the hand, led her to it. He also
conducted Montezuma, and placed him beside her. Then, kneeling down,
he removed the crown from his head, and placed it, with his sceptre, upon a
cushion before the throne. Elevating the cushion in his hands towards
heaven, he said, solemnly,

`From thee, shade of my imperial sire, I received this diadem and sceptre.
Behold, I have fulfilled my destiny. I now transmit them to the successor
the gods have given me, even as I received them from thee.'

Thus speaking, he rose and put the crown upon the head of Montezuma,
and placed the sceptre in his right hand.

`Receive, Montezuma the First, these symbols of empire. As I leave
them to thee, as I received them from my predecessor, so keep them as a
sacred trust to those who come after thee. May heaven bless thee, Emperor
Montezuma and Empress Eylla, and make your reign long and prosperous.
'

`Hail, Montezuma the First!' cried the assembled nobles, and the cry
flew from palace to square, and from square to street, till the vast city rung
with the universal acclamation.'

`Hail, Montezuma the First!' cried the knight, who had appeared before
the temple with him, advancing to the throne. Kneeling down, he raised
his visor, laid his drawn sword at the feet of the young emperor, and added,
in a loud, firm voice,

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`It is not the prince's voice,' said the maiden, archly.

`You speak as if you knew it, maiden?'

`Listen, my mistress. Do you not recognize it?'

`The song is one of love. 'T is bold! I know not the voice. It may be
the — the — Montezuma,' she said, hesitatingly. `List!' she exclaimed,
quickly, as a tender strain rose to her ear. `I know the song and voice, now.
'T is my lord Cuiri.'

`I thought it strange, my princess, that you should have forgotten the
noble and youthful Lord Cuiri, who thinks more of a glance from your eye,
or of your shadow, than the haughty and cold prince does of your whole
person.'

`I am sorry for it,' said the princess, with interest. `The song hath
suddenly ceased. Ha! there is a ringing sound of steel, and now of conflict.
Look forth!' cried the princess, with alarm.

Tzitzis was already looking down upon the scene, when spoken to, and
cried, with surprise and indignation,

`I saw, my noble lady, the singer set upon by some one, who rushed from
the lemon walk, and thrust at him with his sword. The sword broke against
his mail, and the assassin has fled.'

`Hath my lord come to harm? Quick — tell me!'

`No, my lady,' answered the maiden, again looking down. `He staggered
at the blow, but hath recovered himself, and now seeks the assassin.'

`Pray heaven, they meet not. 'T is the prince.'

`I thought so, but dared not speak it.'

`It can be none else.'

`There sounds the zitzil again,' cried the Peruvian, with delight. `Look,
my lady! he hath returned, and taken his place at the foot of the tree, and
resumes his song. A gallant knight, and brave. I do believe my lord
Cuiri, besides being the handsomest man, the first noble, and the best knight
in the empire, hath a truer and gentler heart, for a wooer, than any man in
Mexico. Hark! my princess. How sweetly he sings, and how tenderly.'

`He is too bold maiden. Such words should not be addressed to a
princess' ear from any noble. My lord Cuiri is too bold.'

`And he doth think so, it seems,' said the maiden, sadly, looking from the
casement as the singer's voice ceased; `for he hath ended his song, and disappeared.
His heart felt your displeasure.'

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him by this flower's aid. Let us see if it hath affected her aught in her
sleep. Methinks, if it touched her dreams, and made her love Izcalli in
them, she would wake.'

The princess approached, and knelt beside her as she spoke, and Tzitzis
took her place near her. For a few moments, they watched her as she
continued to sleep, with the deep and gentle respiration of an infant. The
flower still lay there, like new fallen snow, upon her open bosom.

`It hath not harmed her. She sleeps like a child, that hath played itself
weary. What is the time?'

`It hath been full ten minutes, your highness.'

`I will now take it from its sweet pillow, wake her, and see if the spell
hath had its power. I do but have half faith in it, though I have heard of
wondrous flowers with strange properties. There is one called, I think, the
xical, that hath the power of bringing the dead to life, if held to the lips.
There is another I have heard of called the otol, that hath some wondrous
power, — I think, of death.

`Pray the gods this be not it,' cried the Peruvian, with anxiety.

`If it be, it at least hath failed to injure our sleepy Telitza, for the time is
expired.'

With these words she bent over the maiden, and put forth her hand to
remove the otol. As she did so, she thought she beheld the green and
golden circle within it move and evolve, as if instinct with life. She looked
a second time more closely, and then drew back her hand with an exclamation
of surprise.

`Behold, Tzitzis! Do my own eyes deceive me?'

The Peruvian bent low over the flower, and the next moment started back
with a cry of horror.

`It is a serpent, uncoiling itself.'

The princess, pale with fear and wonder, again looked into the flower, as it
lay upon the gently rising and falling bosom of the Peruvian virgin, and did
indeed, to her speechless horror and amazement, behold therein, instead of
the beautiful little cup composed of minute concentric circles, a very
small, slender serpent, with a needle-like tongue, moving within the petals
with great rapidity. She perceived at once the fatal danger of the sleeper.
But ere she could obey her first impulse to snatch the flower from her bosom,
she saw the nimble little animal leave it for her breast, and thrice strike his
sting deep into the bosom that had warmed it into life.

The flower instantly withered, and the serpent itself, coiling its graceful
length upon the bloodless and scarce visible wounds it had made, at the same
instant expired. The sleeper waked not, but sighed heavily; — smiled most
sweetly for a moment, as if in a pleasant passage of some happy dream.
Then a fearful shudder passed over her frame, and she was dead!

The princess and her attendant looked on with silent horror. The blood
chilled in their veins. For several minutes neither could move nor speak.
At length the princess slowly rose to her feet. She spake not a word.
But grief, wonder, indignation, horror, were depicted on her pale and rigid
visage. She stood awhile after she rose, and contemplated the victim as she
lay at her feet. She felt the hapless Telitza had died in her stead. She saw
before her the death she herself had wonderfully escaped. Tzitzis cast herself
upon the ground, dissolved in tears, and then lifted her hands to heaven
in gratitude for the princess' safety. The princess' heart was full. Tears
would have come to her relief, also, but for the just vengeance that burned

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`I did not believe the prince, — wicked at heart, ambitious in soul as I
knew him to be, — would have attempted such a thing as this. This is the
way he would leap into the throne. Pray the gods, he hath not laid his
hands on my father's life!'

She hastened towards the door of her apartment, as if she would fly to
his chamber to see if he were in safety, when it opened, and Tzitzis,
pale and trembling, ushered in the emperor, wrapped in his silken night-robe.

`My child, what is this alarm?' he cried, on beholding her flushed and
indignant bearing.

`I have sent for thee, my father,' she said, assuming a calmness that
she was far from feeling, `to ask thee if it is still thy purpose and wish
that I should espouse the Prince Palipan, my cousin, and thy nephew?'

`Thou art a foolish child to call me hither at this hour to ask me what
thou already knowest,' answered the emperor, displeased.

`Sit here, my father. I have a deeper reason than you conceive or
scarcely will believe, when you come to know it, for sending for thee at this
time. Nay — sit by me and hear me.'

`We are not alone,' said the emperor, struck by her impressive manner
and deep voice of feeling.

`Tzitzis, child, retire to thy couch, if thou canst sleep. Be secret, as I
have told thee, as to what thou hast seen. Nay, further, regard not the
slave upon the floor, she sleeps too heavily to hear or heed.' `What
wouldst thou say, my child? Thou art not well. Something hath disturbed
thee.'

`My father,' she said, without regarding his words, `dost thou remember,
in the history of your imperial line, there was an emperor who had twin
sons?'

`I do. It was Acolhuatzin the Great, my seventh ancestor.'

`Which of those sons did he decree should possess his throne?'

`Both to be emperors equally.'

`Such was his decree; but what was the truth? Did not one twin,
more ambitious than his brother, secretly slay him, that he might reign
alone?'

`This is true, my child. But wherefore these questions?'

`Did he reign?' she asked, pointedly.

`No. The emperor slew him for the murder, and gave the throne to the
heir of another branch.'

`Did the emperor well in slaying his own son?'

`All men have applauded his justice.'

`Wouldst thou have done the same, my father, had he been thy son?'

`Yes, child,' he said, sternly; `though thou thyself should have pleaded
with tears for his life.'

`This is what I wish to know,' she said, with spirit, her eye lighting up
with a smile of satisfaction.

`But what has this to do with the prince?'

`Thou knowest we had some difference the early part of the evening, and
so parted.'

`Well.'

`An hour since he sent me, by my Peruvian slave, in this alabaster vase,
a tall and stately flower.

`He hath, then, come to his senses,' said the monarch, pleased. `Thou
didst accept it?'