Page:The black tulip (IA 10892334.2209.emory.edu).pdf/133

 “Now, listen to me. My father falls asleep every evening, almost immediately after his supper; I then make him lie down, a little stupefied with his gin. Don’t say anything about it, because, thanks to this nap, I shall be able to come every evening and chat for an hour with you.”

“Oh, I thank you Rosa, dear Rosa.”

Saying these words, Cornelius put his face so near the little window, that Rosa withdrew hers.

“I have brought back to you your bulbs.”

Cornelius’ heart leaped with joy. He had not yet dared to ask Rosa what she had done with the precious treasure which he had entrusted to her.

“Oh! you have preserved them, then?”

“Did you not give them to me as a thing which was dear to you?”

“Yes, but as I have given them to you, it seems to me that they belong to you.”

“They would have belonged to me after your death, but, fortunately, you are alive now. Oh! how I blessed His Highness in my heart. If God grants 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. know how to accomplish it. I had, however, already formed the plan of going to the Stadtholder, to ask from him, for my father, the appointment of jailor at Lœvestein, when your housekeeper brought me your letter. Oh, how we wept together. But your letter only confirmed me the more in my resolution. I then left for Leyden, and the rest you know.”

“What! my dear Rosa, you thought, even before receiving my letter, of coming to meet me again?”

“If I thought of it?” said Rosa, allowing her love to