Page:The black tulip (IA 10892334.2209.emory.edu).pdf/111

 the point of rendering, although innocent, my soul to God on the scaffold, I bequeath to Rosa Gryphus, the only worldly good which has remained to me of all that I have possessed in this world, the rest having been confiscated; I bequeath, I say, to Rosa Gryphus three bulbs, which I am convinced must produce, in the next May, the Grand Black Tulip, for which a prize of a hundred thousand guilders has been offered by the Haarlem Society, requesting that she may be paid the same sum in my stead, as my sole heiress, under the only condition of her marrying a respectable young man of about my age, who loves her, and whom she loves, and of her giving the grand black tulip, which will constitute a new species, the name of ‘Rosa Barlæensis,’ that is to say, hers and mine combined.

“So may God grant me mercy; and to her health and long life!

“.”

The prisoner, then giving the Bible to Rosa, said:—

“Read.”

“Alas!” she answered, “I have already told you I cannot read.”

Cornelius then read to Rosa the testament that he had just made.

The agony of the poor girl almost overpowered her.

“Do you accept my conditions?” asked the prisoner, with a melancholy smile, kissing the trembling hands of the afflicted girl.

“Oh, I don't know, sir;” she stammered.

“You don't know, child, and why not?”

“Because there is one condition which I am afraid I cannot keep.”

“Which? I should have thought that all was settled between us.”