Part 12 (1/2)
Rather than expose the jailer, he drove away for ever those gentleseen Rosa again
This visit of the jailer, his brutal threats, and the gloomy prospect of the harshness hich, as he had before experienced, Gryphus watched his prisoners, -- all this was unable to extinguish in Cornelius the sweet thoughts, and especially the sweet hope, which the presence of Rosa had reawakened in his heart
He waited eagerly to hear the clock of the tower of Loewestein strike nine
The last chih the air, when Cornelius heard on the staircase the light step and the rustle of the flowing dress of the fair Frisian ratedin the door, on which the prisoner fixed his earnest gaze
The shutter opened on the outside
”Here I a up the stairs, ”here I alad to see et here? tell me”
”Now listen toalmost immediately after his supper; I then in Don't say anything about it, because, thanks to this nap, I shall be able to co and chat for an hour with you”
”Oh, I thank you, Rosa, dear Rosa”
Saying these words, Cornelius put his face so near the littlethat Rosa withdrew hers
”I have brought back to you your bulbs”
Cornelius's heart leaped with joy He had not yet dared to ask Rosa what she had done with the precious treasure which he had intrusted to her
”Oh, you have preserved the which was dear to you?”
”Yes, but as I have given the to you”
”They would have belonged to me after your death, but, fortunately, you are alive now Oh how I blessed his Highness in rants to him all the happiness that I have wished him, certainly Prince William will be the happiest man on earth When I looked at the Bible of your Godfather Cornelius, I was resolved to bring back to you your bulbs, only I did not kno to acco to the Stadtholder, to ask from him for my father the appointht ether! But your letter only confirmed me the more in my resolution I then left for Leyden, and the rest you know”
”What,ht of it,” said Rosa, allowing her love to get the better of her bashfulness, ”I thought of nothing else”
And, saying these words, Rosa looked so exceedingly pretty, that for the second tirating; of course, welady
Rosa, however, drew back as before
”In truth,” she said, with that coquetry which soirl, ”I have often been sorry that I am not able to read, but never so ht me your letter I kept the paper in my hands, which spoke to other people, and which was duretted not being able to read,” said Cornelius ”I should just like to knohat occasions”
”Troth,” she said, laughing, ”to read all the letters which ritten to me”
”Oh, you received letters, Rosa?”
”By hundreds”
”But rote to you?”
”Who! why, in the first place, all the students who passed over the Buytenhof, all the officers ent to parade, all the clerks, and even the merchants who saw me at my little ”
”And what did you do with all these notes, ot some friend to read them to me, which was capital fun, but since a certain time -- well, what use is it to attend to all this nonsense? -- since a certain time I have burnt them”
”Since a certain ti with love and joy
Rosa cast down her eyes, blushi+ng In her sweet confusion, she did not observe the lips of Cornelius, which, alas! onlyYet, in spite of this obstacle, they co breath of the most tender kiss
At this sudden outburst of tenderness, Rosa grew very pale, -- perhaps paler than she had been on the day of the execution She uttered a plaintive sob, closed her fine eyes, and fled, trying in vain to still the beating of her heart
And thus Cornelius was again alone
Rosa had fled so precipitately, that she coot to return to Cornelius the three bulbs of the Black Tulip
Chapter 16
Master and Pupil
The worthy Master Gryphus, as the readerof his daughter for the Godson of Cornelius de Witt
There being only five prisoners at Loewestein, the post of turnkey was not a very onerous one, but rather a sort of sinecure, given after a long period of service
But the worthy jailer, in his zeal, had ination the iigantic proportions of a criminal of the first order He looked upon hierous of all his prisoners He watched all his steps, and always spoke to hi hiainst such a clement prince as the Stadtholder
Three ti to find hi; but Cornelius had ceased to correspond, since his correspondent was at hand It is even probable that, if Cornelius had obtained his full liberty, with pero wherever he liked, the prison, with Rosa and his bulbs, would have appeared to him preferable to any other habitation in the world without Rosa and his bulbs
Rosa, in fact, had pro, and fro she had kept her word
On the following evening she went up as before, with the same mysteriousness and the same precaution Only she had this tirating In order, however, to engage Van Baerle in a conversation from the very first which would seriously occupy his attention, she tendered to hi the three bulbs, which were still wrapped up in the sareat astonishment of Rosa, Van Baerle pushed back her white hand with the tips of his fingers
The youngabout the matter