monarch could do or
devise, to make ready for a severe and protracted contest, in whatever
form it might come.

Thus established on the throne, and strengthened against a sudden
surprise, the ardent young monarch repaired to Chapoltepec, where the
bereaved household of Montezuma still remained, in sad but peaceful
seclusion, and claimed the hand of the fair Princess Tecuichpo. Her
retiring disposition would have preferred a humbler and more quiet
station. She had seen enough of the agitations and burdens of a crowned
head; enough of the gaudy emptiness of life in a palace, and longed to
hide herself in some sweet, sequestered spot, away from the noisy parade
and anxious bustle of a court, where her own home would be all her
world.

"Oh! that that crown had fallen on some other head," she exclaimed.
"Though there is not another in Anahuac so worthy to wear it, not one
who would so well sustain its ancient glory, yet I would not that _you_
should bear the heavy burden, or be exposed to that desolating storm
that is gathering over our devoted capital and throne."

"Said I not, my beloved, that I would yet lead you back in triumph to
the royal halls of your ancestors? I have come to redeem my pledge.
Shrink not from a station which no other can so well adorn. Rather, far
rather would I, if I could, retire with you to the quiet shades of
private life, and find a home in some sweet glen among the mountains,
than wear the crown and claim the homage of a world. But, my sweet
cousin, the crown _must_ be defended, the throne _must_ be sustained
against the insolent pretensions of these strangers. And _I_ must do my
part in the defence. I dare not, either as monarch or as subject,
withhold myself from this great work. If I perish, I fall in the service
of my country and her altars. And the higher the station I hold, the
greater the service I render--the heavier the burden I bear, the
brighter the honors I shall win. As well perish on the throne, as
fighting at its foot. I should be unworthy of the daughter of Montezuma,
if I held any thing too dear to sacrifice on the shrine of my country."

"Noble Guatimozin, my heart is yours--my life is devoted only to you.
Lead me where you will, so that I can share your burdens, and lighten
your cares, and not prove unworthy of such a father and such a lord. But
you forget that mine is a doomed life, that oracles and omens, signs and
presages, have all conspired against me from my birth.