Part 8 (1/2)
”Well, now, by my soul, he is mad, this new De Witt,” he cried, ”but all those De Witts have the devil in the the jailer by the ar him towards the , -- ”master, what have I read down there?”
”Where down there?”
”On that placard”
And, treibbet at the other side of the yard, with the cynical inscription surh
”Eh! eh!” he answered, ”so, you have read it Well,with the enee”
”The brothers De Witt are murdered!” Cornelius muttered, with the cold sweat on his brow, and sank on his bed, his ar by his side, and his eyes closed
”The brothers De Witt have been judged by the people,” said Gryphus; ”you call thatthat the prisoner was not only quiet, but entirely prostrate and senseless, he rushed fro the bolts
Recovering his consciousness, Cornelius found hinised the room where he was, -- ”the fae leading to ignominious death
And as he was a philosopher, and, an to pray for the soul of his Godfather, then for that of the Grand Pensionary, and at last subht ordain for hiain to the concerns of earth, and having satisfied hieon, he drew from his breast the three bulbs of the black tulip, and concealed the of the prison was standing, in the darkest corner of his cell
Useless labour of so many years! such sweet hopes crushed; his discovery was, after all, to lead to naught, just as his own career was to be cut short Here, in his prison, there was not a trace of vegetation, not an atoht Cornelius fell into a gloomy despair, from which he was only aroused by an extraordinary circumstance
What was this circumstance?
We shall inform the reader in our next chapter
Chapter 10
The Jailer's Daughter
On the saht the prisoner histhe door of the cell, and fell, in the attempt to steady hi way, he broke his arm just above the wrist
Cornelius rushed forward towards the jailer, but Gryphus, as not yet aware of the serious nature of his injury, called out to hi: don't you stir”
He then tried to support hiave way; then only he felt the pain, and uttered a cry
When he became aware that his ar on the threshold, where he re all this time the door of the cell stood open and Cornelius found hiht never entered hisby this accident; he had seen from the manner in which the ar, that the bone was fractured, and that the patientelse but of ad relief to the sufferer, however little benevolent thetheir short interview
At the noise of Gryphus's fall, and at the cry which escaped him, a hasty step was heard on the staircase, and immediately after a lovely apparition presented itself to the eyes of Cornelius
It was the beautiful young Frisian, who, seeing her father stretched on the ground, and the prisoner bending over hiht Gryphus, whose brutality she well knew, had fallen in consequence of a struggle between him and the prisoner
Cornelius understood as passing in the irl, at the very moment when the suspicion arose in her heart
But one moment told her the true state of the case and, ashahts, she cast her beautiful eyes, ith tears, on the youngyour pardon, and thank you, sir; the first for what I have thought, and the second for what you are doing”
Cornelius blushed, and said, ”I ahbour”
”Yes, and affording hiotten the abuse which he heaped on you thisOh, sir! this is more than humanity, -- this is indeed Christian charity”
Cornelius cast his eyes on the beautiful girl, quite astonished to hear fro speech
But he had no time to express his surprise Gryphus recovered from his swoon, opened his eyes, and as his brutality was returning with his senses, he growled ”That's it, a fellow is in a hurry to bring to a prisoner his supper, and falls and breaks his arround”
”Hush, entleive you his aid”
”His aid?” Gryphus replied, with a doubtful air
”It is quite true, master! I am quite ready to help you still more”
”You!” said Gryphus, ”are you a medical man?”
”It was formerly my profession”
”And so you would be able to set my arm?”
”Perfectly”
”And ould you need to do it? let us hear”
”Two splinters of wood, and soe”
”Do you hear, Rosa?” said Gryphus, ”the prisoner is going to set et up, I feel as heavy as lead”
Rosa lent the sufferer her shoulder; he put his unhurt ars, whilst Cornelius, to save him a walk, pushed a chair towards hihter, he said, -- ”Well, didn't you hear? go and fetch what is wanted”
Rosa went down, and immediately after returned with two staves of a se
Cornelius hadmoments to take off the man's coat, and to tuck up his shi+rt sleeve