Part 11 (1/2)

Cornelius felt himself perfectly indifferent as to the place where he had to lead an existence which was little s now for which he cared, and the possession of which was a happiness enjoyed only in iination

A flower, and a woman; both of them, as he conceived, lost to hiood doctor was mistaken In his prison cell the most adventurous life which ever fell to the lot of any tulip-fancier was reserved for hi the fresh air which ca look to the wind in the distance behind a forest of chi froables of Loewestein

These pigeons, Van Baerle said to hi fro a little note to the wing of one of these pigeons, one e there Then, after a few moments' consideration, he exclairows very patient who is twenty-eight years of age, and conde like twenty-two or twenty-three thousand days of captivity

Van Baerle, frohts the three bulbs were never absent,the birds with all the resources of his kitchen, such as it was for eight slivers (sixpence English) a day; and, after a ht a female bird

It cost him two ether, and having about the beginning of the year 1673 obtained so the s in her stead, flew joyously to Dort, with the note under her wing

She returned in the evening She had preserved the note

Thus it went on for fifteen days, at first to the disappointrief, of Van Baerle

On the sixteenth day, at last, she came back without it

Van Baerle had addressed it to his nurse, the old Frisian woht find it to convey it to her as safely and as speedily as possible

In this letter there was a little note enclosed for Rosa

Van Baerle's nurse had received the letter in the folloay

Leaving Dort, Mynheer Isaac Boxtel had abandoned, not only his house, his servants, his observatory, and his telescope, but also his pigeons

The servant, having been left without wages, first lived on his little savings, and then on his rated from the roof of Isaac Boxtel to that of Cornelius van Baerle

The nurse was a kind-hearted wo to love She conceived an affection for the pigeons which had thrown themselves on her hospitality; and when Boxtel's servant reclai eaten the first fifteen already, and noishi+ng to eat the other fifteen, she offered to buy them from him for a consideration of six stivers per head

This being just double their value, the ain, and the nurse found herself in undisputed possession of the pigeons of her hbour

In the course of their wanderings, these pigeons with others visited the Hague, Loewestein, and Rotterda variety, doubtless, in the flavour of their wheat or hempseed

Chance, or rather God, for we can see the hand of God in everything, had willed that Cornelius van Baerle should happen to hit upon one of these very pigeons

Therefore, if the envious wretch had not left Dort to follow his rival to the Hague in the first place, and then to Gorcum or to Loewestein, -- for the two places are separated only by the confluence of the Waal and the Meuse, -- Van Baerle's letter would have fallen into his hands and not the nurse's: in which event the poor prisoner, like the raven of the Roman cobbler, would have throay his ti to relate the series of exciting events which are about to flow from beneath our pen like the varied hues of a ht to describe but a weary waste of days, dull and ht's dark mantle

The note, as we have said, had reached Van Baerle's nurse

And also it ca of February, just when the stars were beginning to twinkle, Cornelius heard on the staircase of the little turret a voice which thrilled through him

He put his hand on his heart, and listened

It was the sweet harmonious voice of Rosa

Let us confess it, Cornelius was not so stupefied with surprise, or so beyond hieon, which, in answer to his letter, had brought back hope to hi Rosa, he expected, if the note had ever reached her, to hear of her who bulbs

He rose, listened once more, and bent forward towards the door

Yes, they were indeed the accents which had fallen so sweetly on his heart at the Hague

The question nohether Rosa, who had ue to Loewestein, and who -- Cornelius did not understand how -- had succeeded even in penetrating into the prison, would also be fortunate enough in penetrating to the prisoner hi this point within hi all sorts of castles in the air, and was struggling between hope and fear, the shutter of the grating in the door opened, and Rosa, bea with joy, and beautiful in her pretty national costurief which for the last five ainst the wire grating of the , saying to him, -- ”Oh, sir, sir! here I a to heaven, uttered a cry of joy, -- ”Oh, Rosa, Rosa!”

”Hush!+ let us speak low: irl

”Your father?”

”Yes, he is in the courtyard at the botto the instructions of the Governor; he will presently come up”

”The instructions of the Governor?”

”Listen to me, I'll try to tell you all in a feords The Stadtholder has a country-house, one league distant froe dairy, and ement of it As soon as I received your letter, which, alas! I could not read myself, but which your housekeeper read to me, I hastened to my aunt; there I remained until the Prince should come to the dairy; and when he cae his post at the prison of the Hague with the jailer of the fortress of Loewestein The Prince could not have suspected my object; had he known it, he would have refused ranted it”

”And so you are here?”

”As you see”

”And thus I shall see you every day?”

”As often as I can e it”

”Oh, Rosa, my beautiful Rosa, do you love reat pretensions, Mynheer Cornelius”

Cornelius tenderly stretched out his hands towards her, but they were only able to touch each other with the tips of their fingers through the wire grating

”Here is my father,” said she

Rosa then abruptly drew back from the door, and ran to meet old Gryphus, who made his appearance at the top of the staircase

Chapter 15

The Little Grated Window

Gryphus was followed by the mastiff