Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/353

Rh saved herself. There is no way of knowing how faithfully and disinterestedly she played her part of interpreter; certainly she gave herself absolutely to Cortes, and her devotion to the Spaniards never faltered, but who shall say that she also did justice in her presentation of the Indians' claims and interests in the negotiations she directed? Authorities differ as to the number of children born to Cortes and Dona Marina; the eldest son, Don Martin, afterwards became a Knight of Santiago, and the existence of at least one daughter seems to be sufficiently certain. In October, 1524, Marina was married to Juan Xaramillo, described as an hildalgo. Bernal Diaz says that the bridegroom was ignorant of Marina's past, which makes one wonder where he came from, and Gomara's explanation that he was drunk at the time sounds more plausible. On the expedition to Yucatan there was a dramatic encounter between Doña Marina and her perfidious mother and the younger half-brother in whose interest she had been sacrificed. The recognition seems to have been instantaneous and mutual; the mother, fearing vengeance, threw herself at her daughter's feet, begging forgiveness, which was accorded, with the philosophic assurance that when she had so treated her child, she did not know what she was doing (as indeed it appeared), and that she thanked God for the boon of the Christian religion and the happiness of having given her master a son and the joy of possessing an excellent husband in Juan Xaramillo. Dona Marina's Christian morality betrayed it's recent adoption and weak growth at this point. She loaded her relatives with gifts and sent them home rejoicing. Bernal Diaz was reminded by this incident of the meeting between Joseph and his brethren in Egypt. Xaramillo became an alcalde in Mexico, and in 1528 a grant of land was given to him and his wife near Chapultepec. Prescott describes Marina as returning to her native place, where an estate was given her, but Icazbalceta says she ended her days in Mexico, rich and respected; Orozco y Berra concedes that she was rich, but doubts that she was respected. A curious painting represents Cortes with Marina standing beside him at the execution of a Cholulan servant of Andres de Tapia, who was condemned to be torn to pieces by fierce dogs; she piously holds a rosary in her hand as she watches the brutal spectacle, which took place in 1537. Doña Marina still lived therefore in 1537, but the date of her death is not recorded (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat. lib. xxxiii., cap. i.; Las Casas, Hist, de las Indians, lib. iii., cap. cxxi.; Clavigero, tom. iii., [p. 12; Bernal Diaz, cap. xxxvii., Garcia Icazbalceta, Dialogos de Cervantes; Orozco y Berra, vol. iv., cap. v.).