ntering the palace with her.

She led him down some corridors and then out into a garden. As soon
as she saw that they were in a spot where they could not be
overlooked, she turned and seized his hands; and would have pressed
them to her forehead, had not Roger prevented her doing so, and put
her hands to his lips.

"Ah!" she exclaimed. "How happy you have made me, today! I have
wondered so much how it has fared with you, and have dreamed at
night, so often, that you were being sacrificed on the altars of
the gods."

"I have thought of you very often, also, Malinche; and I was
surprised, indeed, when I heard that you--for I felt sure that it
was you--were with the Spaniards, and were not only an interpreter,
but in high honor with them."

"But why do you not join them?" she asked. "Why do you come to me
first? What can I do for you? I will take you at once to Cortez,
and when I tell him that you were my friend, and were so kind and
good to the slave girl, he will welcome you most warmly."

"Yes, Malinche; but that is why I wanted to see you first alone.
You remember that I told you all about the Spaniards, and how they
owned the islands, and would some day surely come to Mexico; but
that I belong to another white people, who are forbidden by the
Spaniards, under pain of death, to come to these parts. They must
not know that I am not of their nation.

"You see, I cannot speak their tongue. I see that you have learned
it fast, for I saw Cortez speaking to you."

"What are we to do, then?" the girl asked, with a puzzled look.
"When they find that you cannot speak their language, they will, of
course, see that you are not of their people."

"Yes, Malinche; but they might think that I had forgotten it. That
is just where I want you to help me. If you take me to Cortez, and
tell him that, years ago, a ship was wrecked on the coast of
Tabasco, and that all were drowned except a little white boy; and
that he was brought up at Tabasco, and that you were great friends
with him, until he was sold to some Mexican traders--they will
think that I have altogether forgotten my native language. They are
not likely to ask you how many years ago it is, or how big I was
then, and will imagine that I was quite a child, and that I
belonged to a Spanish ship, for they will not dream of an English
vessel having been in these parts. When you introduce me to Cortez,
you must tell him that I have quite forgotten the language, save a
f