"Yes, Laughing-eyes, I am; but is it well to talk of pledges now? Had we not better wait? I am not less desirous than yourself to seal our love with the sacred kiss of troth; but, Itlza, your brother, the best friend I ever had, may yet be saved; and, should he be, I want him to know, and Teochma, your mother, too, before our pledge is sealed. Our love will keep, as it has in the past. Who knows, but ourselves, that we are lovers? And, since this is so, who may come between us?" Ah, Cacami! if you had only known what lay beyond, we think you would hardly have plead for delay, though in doing so you showed an honorable disposition. "Who, indeed, may come between us?" returned Itlza, in a spirit of concession. "It were honorable in you, Cacami, to be considerate of my mother and brother's pleasure in the matter of our troth. I should not be the one to urge it against your reason, nor will I. No; as you say, our love will keep." * * * * * While Cacami and Itlza, secure in their own minds as to a final and happy consummation of their dreams, were felicitous--though sad--in each other's society, Hualcoyotl sat alone in his palace apartments laying plans, which, if successfully carried out, would bring about their separation, and the frustration of their cherished hopes. And yet, he was ignorant of the fact that two lives were to be made unspeakably wretched by the course he was planning to pursue. He loved Itlza, but never stopped to think that she might love another; and, possibly, did not consider such a contingency of sufficient importance to require a serious thought; for was he not soon to be made a king, whose will would be law, even in the choice of a wife? His affection for his lost friend, and the sympathy he felt for the bereaved mother and sister awakened in his already predisposed mind thoughts of an immediate union with the latter, and he planned accordingly. It was the custom of the ruling princes of the Anahuac, when a queen was to be chosen, to have the intended royal consort brought to the palace of the prospective royal groom, to receive such instructions as would fit her for the high position she would be called to fill. With this end in view, the prince decided that Itlza, with her mother as a chaperon, should be transferred to his palace at once. He was not yet a king, and had no authority to issue a command. What he did at this time was necessarily done by courtesy. When the power to command should be placed in his hands he would be less persuasive; before, however, his ends would have to be reached by the milder methods. The mother was accordingly apprised of his wishes, and asked to give them her immediate and favorable consideration.