Chapter 13. What was going on all this Time in the Mind of one of theSpectators
Whilst Cornelius was engaged with his own thoughts, a coach had drivenup to the scaffold. This vehicle was for the prisoner. He was invited toenter it, and he obeyed.
His last look was towards the Buytenhof. He hoped to see at the windowthe face of Rosa, brightening up again.
But the coach was drawn by good horses, who soon carried Van Baerleaway from among the shouts which the rabble roared in honour of the mostmagnanimous Stadtholder, mixing with it a spice of abuse against thebrothers De Witt and the godson of Cornelius, who had just now beensaved from death.
This reprieve suggested to the worthy spectators remarks such as thefollowing:--
"It's very fortunate that we used such speed in having justice done tothat great villain John, and to that little rogue Cornelius, otherwisehis Highness might have snatched them from us, just as he has done thisfellow."
Among all the spectators whom Van Baerle's execution had attracted tothe Buytenhof, and whom the sudden turn of affairs had disagreeablysurprised, undoubtedly the one most disappointed was a certainrespectably dressed burgher, who from early morning had made such agood use of his feet and elbows that he at last was separated from thescaffold only by the file of soldiers which surrounded it.
Many had shown themselves eager to see the perfidious blood of theguilty Cornelius flow, but not one had shown such a keen anxiety as theindividual just alluded to.
The most furious had come to the Buytenhof at daybreak, to secure abetter place; but he, outdoing even them, had passed the night at thethreshold of the prison, from whence, as we have already said, he hadadvanced to the very foremost rank, unguibus et rostro,--that is to say,coaxing some, and kicking the others.
And when the executioner had conducted the prisoner to the scaffold, theburgher, who had mounted on the stone of the pump the better to see andbe seen, made to the executioner a sign which meant,--
"It's a bargain, isn't it?"
The executioner answered by another sign, which was meant to say,--
"Be quiet, it's all right."
This burgher was no other than Mynheer Isaac Boxtel, who since thearrest of Cornelius had come to the Hague to try if he could not gethold of the three bulbs of the black tulip.
Boxtel had at first tried to gain over Gryphus to his interest, but thejailer had not only the snarling fierceness, but likewise the fidelity,of a dog. He had therefore bristled up at Boxtel's hatred, whom he hadsuspected to be a warm friend of the prisoner, making trifling inquiriesto contrive with the more certainty some means of escape for him.
Thus to the very first proposals which Boxtel made to Gryphus to filchthe bulbs which Cornelius van Baerle must be supposed to conceal, if notin his breast, at least in some corner of his cell, the surly jailer hadonly answered by kicking Mynheer Isaac out, and setting the dog at him.
The piece which the mastiff had torn from his hose did not discourageBoxtel. He came back to the charge, but this time Gryphus was in bed,feverish, and with a broken arm. He therefore was not able to admit thepetitioner, who then addressed himself to Rosa, offering to buy her ahead-dress of pure gold if she would get the bulbs for him. On this, thegenerous girl, although not yet knowing the value of the object of therobbery, which was to be so well remunerated, had directed the tempterto the executioner, as the heir of the prisoner.
In the meanwhile the sentence had been pronounced. Thus Isaac had nomore time to bribe any one. He therefore clung to the idea which Rosahad suggested: he went to the executioner.
Isaac had not the least doubt that Cornelius would die with the bulbs onhis heart.
But there were two things which Boxtel did not calculate upon:--
Rosa, that is to say, love;
William of Orange, that is to say, clemency.
But for Rosa and William, the calculations of the envious neighbourwould have been correct.
But for William, Cornelius would have died.
But for Rosa, Cornelius would have died with his bulbs on his heart.
Mynheer Boxtel went to the headsman, to whom he gave himself out asa great friend of the condemned man; and from whom he bought all theclothes of the dead man that was to be, for one hundred guilders; ratheran exorbitant sum, as he engaged to leave all the trinkets of gold andsilver to the executioner.
But what was the sum of a hundred guilders to a man who was all but sureto buy with it the prize of the Haarlem Society?
It was money lent at a thousand per cent., which, as nobody will deny,was a very handsome investment.
The headsman, on the other hand, had scarcely anything to do to earn hishundred guilders. He needed only, as soon as the execution was over, toallow Mynheer Boxtel to ascend the scaffold with his servants, to removethe inanimate remains of his friend.
The thing was, moreover, quite customary among the "faithful brethren,"when one of their masters died a public death in the yard of theBuytenhof.
A fanatic like Cornelius might very easily have found another fanaticwho would give a hundred guilders for his remains.
The executioner also readily acquiesced in the proposal, making only onecondition,--that of being paid in advance.
Boxtel, like the people who enter a show at a fair, might bedisappointed, and refuse to pay on going out.
Boxtel paid in advance, and waited.
After this, the reader may imagine how excited Boxtel was; with whatanxiety he watched the guards, the Recorder, and the executioner; andwith what intense interest he surveyed the movements of Van Baerle. Howwould he place himself on the block? how would he fall? and would henot, in falling, crush those inestimable bulbs? had not he at leasttaken care to enclose them in a golden box,--as gold is the hardest ofall metals?
Every trifling delay irritated him. Why did that stupid executioner thuslose time in brandishing his sword over the head of Cornelius, insteadof cutting that head off?
But when he saw the Recorder take the hand of the condemned, and raisehim, whilst drawing forth the parchment from his pocket,--when he heardthe pardon of the Stadtholder publicly read out,--then Boxtel was nomore like a human being; the rage and malice of the tiger, of the hyena,and of the serpent glistened in his eyes, and vented itself in his yelland his movements. Had he been able to get at Van Baerle, he would havepounced upon him and strangled him.
And so, then, Cornelius was to live, and was to go with him toLoewestein, and thither to his prison he would take with him his bulbs;and perhaps he would even find a garden where the black tulip wouldflower for him.
Boxtel, quite overcome by his frenzy, fell from the stone upon someOrangemen, who, like him, were sorely vexed at the turn which affairshad taken. They, mistaking the frantic cries of Mynheer Isaac fordemonstrations of joy, began to belabour him with kicks and cuffs, suchas could not have been administered in better style by any prize-fighteron the other side of the Channel.
Blows were, however, nothing to him. He wanted to run after the coachwhich was carrying away Cornelius with his bulbs. But in his hurryhe overlooked a paving-stone in his way, stumbled, lost his centre ofgravity, rolled over to a distance of some yards, and only rose again,bruised and begrimed, after the whole rabble of the Hague, with theirmuddy feet, had passed over him.
One would think that this was enough for one day, but Mynheer Boxtel didnot seem to think so, as, in addition to having his clothes torn, hisback bruised, and his hands scratched, he inflicted upon himself thefurther punishment of tearing out his hair by handfuls, as an offeringto that goddess of envy who, as mythology teaches us, wears a head-dressof serpents.