CHAPTER IV.

AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL--THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD--THE SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING. 65

Montezuma's duplicity--Shuts himself up in despair--Divided counsels--Mistaken policy--Triumphant advance of Cortez--His ambitious views--His military caution--Montezuma in his family--His youngest daughter--Her loveliness--Her clouded destiny--The royal household--A family scene--A dark superstition versus a cheerful faith--Excursion on the lake--The royal cortege--The Princess--Guatimozin--The dream and its echo--Prophecy--Signal and sudden return--Preparation to receive the Spaniards--Cacama's embassy to Cortez--Exchange of courtesies--Reception of the strangers at Iztapalapan--Lofty bearing of Cuitlahua--The Capital and its environs.