"Fear not, brave Guatimozin!" responded the parrot. "There, I have it again, my love; all she says is against you. And what do you say of Malinché, pretty Karee-o-thán?" "Poor Malinché! brave Guatimozin." "Bravo!" exclaimed the Prince, "the bird is as good as an omen, and I"---- At that moment, Karee appeared, and coming towards them in great haste and trepidation, informed them that the Spaniards had already reached their quarters in the old palace, and that Montezuma had gone thither, in royal state, to receive them. "And what think you of all these things, my fairy queen," asked Guatimozin, playfully. "Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial house of Tenochtitlan!" energetically replied Karee,--"its glory is departed for ever,--its crown has fallen from the head of the great Montezuma, and there is none able to wear it, or to redeem it from the hand of the spoiler. Thou, most noble Prince, wilt do all that mortal courage and prowess can do, to rescue it from desecration, and to protect the house of Montezuma from the cruel fate to which he has delivered it up; but it will be all in vain. _He_ must perish by an ignominious death. _They_ must pass under the yoke of the strangers, and thou, too, after all thy noble struggles and sacrifices, must perish miserably under their cruel and implacable rapacity." This was too much for Tecuichpo. She looked upon Karee as an inspired prophetess, and had always found it exceedingly difficult to sustain the filial confidence which sanctified every act and every purpose of her royal father, when the powerful incantations of Karee were directed against them. It was a continual struggle between an affectionate superstition, and filial love. But that first, and holiest, and strongest instinct of her heart prevailed, and she clung the more warmly to her father, when she found that every thing else was against him. But now the shaft had pierced her at another and an unguarded point. Her spirit fainted within her. She swooned in the arms of Guatimozin, and was borne to her apartment in a state of insensibility, where, under the kind and skilful nursing of Karee, and the affectionate assurances of Guatimozin, she was soon restored to health, and her accustomed cheerfulness. But these ceaseless agitations, these painful alternations of hope and fear, were slowly wearing upon her gentle spirit, and undermining a frame so delicately sensitive, that, like the aspen, ------It trembled when the sleeping breeze But dreamed of waking. CHAPTER VI. MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA--THE ROYAL BANQUET--THE REQUITAL--THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE. ~"Was that thunder?"~ * * * * * ~Those splendid halls resound with revelry, And song, and dance lead on the tardy dawn.~ * * * * * ~From the hall of his fathers in anguish he fled, Nor again will its marble re-echo his tread.~