Part 24 (1/2)

”I shall prove it With God's help I shall”

Then, turning towards Boxtel, she asked, -- ”The tulip is yours?”

”It is”

”How many bulbs were there of it?”

Boxtel hesitated for a moment, but after a short consideration he came to the conclusion that she would not ask this question if there were none besides the two bulbs of which he had known already He therefore answered, -- ”Three”

”What has become of these bulbs?”

”Oh! what has become of them? Well, one has failed; the second has produced the black tulip”

”And the third?

”The third!”

”The third, -- where is it?”

”I have it at home,” said Boxtel, quite confused

”At home? Where? At Loewestein, or at Dort?”

”At Dort,” said Boxtel

”You lie!” cried Rosa ”Monseigneur,” she continued, whilst turning round to the Prince, ”I will tell you the true story of these three bulbs The first was crushed by my father in the prisoner's cell, and this et hold of it, and, being balked in his hope, he very nearly fell out with my father, who had been the cause of his disappointment The second bulb, planted by me, has produced the black tulip, and the third and last” -- saying this, she drew it from her bosom -- ”here it is, in the very saether with the two others When about to be led to the scaffold, Cornelius van Baerle gave neur, take it”

And Rosa, unfolding the paper, offered the bulb to the Prince, who took it froneur, this young woman may have stolen the bulb, as she did the tulip,” Boxtel said, with a faltering voice, and evidently alarmed at the attention hich the Prince examined the bulb; and evensome lines written on the paper which rehted up; she read, with breathless anxiety, thea cry, held it out to the Prince and said, ”Read, Monseigneur, for Heaven's sake, read!”

William handed the third bulb to Van Systens, took the paper, and read

No sooner had he looked at it than he began to stagger; his hand treround; and the expression of pain and cohtful to see

It was that fly-leaf, taken from the Bible, which Cornelius de Witt had sent to Dort by Craeke, the servant of his brother John, to request Van Baerle to burn the correspondence of the Grand Pensionary with the Marquis de Louvois

This request, as the readerterms: -- ”My Dear Godson, -- ”Burn the parcel which I have intrusted to you Burn it without looking at it, and without opening it, so that its contents may for ever remain unknown to yourself Secrets of this description are death to those hom they are deposited Burn it, and you will have saved John and Cornelius de Witt

”Farewell, and love ust 20, 1672”

This slip of paper offered the proofs both of Van Baerle's innocence and of his claim to the property of the tulip

Rosa and the Stadtholder exchanged one look only

That of Rosa was meant to express, ”Here, you see yourself”

That of the Stadtholder signified, ”Be quiet, and wait”

The Prince wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and slowly folded up the paper, whilst his thoughts andering in that labyrinth without a goal and without a guide, which is called re his head with an effort, he said, in his usual voice, -- ”Go, Mr Boxtel; justice shall be done, I pro to the President, he added, -- ”You,woman and of the tulip Good-bye”

All bowed, and the Prince left, a cheers of the crowd outside

Boxtel returned to his inn, rather puzzled and uneasy, tors about that paper which Williahness had read, folded up, and so carefully put in his pocket What was theof all this?

Rosa went up to the tulip, tenderly kissed its leaves and, with a heart full of happiness and confidence in the ways of God, broke out in the words, -- ”Thou knowest best for what end Thou ood Cornelius teach me to read”

Chapter 28

The Hymn of the Flowers

Whilst the events we have described in our last chapter were taking place, the unfortunate Van Baerle, forgotten in his cell in the fortress of Loewestein, suffered at the hands of Gryphus all that a prisoner can suffer when his jailer has fors of Rosa or of Jacob, persuaded himself that all that had happened was the devil's work, and that Dr Cornelius van Baerle had been sent on earth by Satan

The result of it was, that, one fine , the third after the disappearance of Jacob and Rosa, he went up to the cell of Cornelius in even a greater rage than usual

The latter, leaning with his elbows on the -sill and supporting his head with his two hands, whilst his eyes wandered over the distant hazy horizon where the wind the fresh air, in order to be able to keep down his tears and to fortify hieons were still there, but hope was not there; there was no future to look forward to

Alas! Rosa, being watched, was no longer able to come Could she not write? and if so, could she convey her letters to hi days too nity in the eyes of old Gryphus to expect that his vigilance would relax, even for one moment Moreover, had not she to suffer even worse torments than those of seclusion and separation? Did this brutal, blasphehter, like the ruthless fathers of the Greek draive to his arm, which had been only too well set by Cornelius, even double force?

The idea that Rosa ht perhaps be ill-treated nearly drove Cornelius mad

He then felt his oerlessness He asked hi so much tribulation on two innocent creatures And certainly in these an to doubt the wisdom of Providence It is one of the curses of ets doubt

Van Baerle had proposed to write to Rosa, but where was she?