Page:The black tulip (IA 10892334.2209.emory.edu).pdf/102

 of the parcel, well knowing that such a confidence would only have caused anxiety to him who received it.

To this it was objected, that if De Witte had wished to act in such a way, he would have added to the parcel, in case of accidents, a certificate, setting forth that his godson was an entire stranger to the nature of this correspondence, or at least he would, during his trial, have written a letter to him, which might be produced as his justification.

Cornelius replied, that undoubtedly his godfather could not have thought that there was any risk for the safety of his deposit, hidden as it was in a press, which was looked upon as sacred as the tabernacle by the whole household of Van Baerle; and that, consequently, he had considered the certificate as useless. As to a letter, he certainly had some remembrance that some moments previous to his arrest, whilst he was absorbed in the contemplation of one of the rarest of his bulbs, John De Witte’s servant entered his dry room, and handed to him a paper, but the whole was to him only like a vague dream; the servant had disappeared, and as to the paper, perhaps it might be found, if a proper search were made.

As far as Craeke was concerned, it was impossible to find him, as he had left Holland.

The paper also was not very likely to be found, and no one gave himself the trouble to look for it.

Cornelius himself did not much press this point, since, even supposing that the paper should turn up, it could not have any direct connection with the correspondence which constituted the crime.

The judges wished to make it appear, as though they wanted to urge Cornelius to make a better defence; they displayed that benevolent patience, which is generally a sign of the magistrates being interested for the prisoner; or of a man’s having so completely got the