Chapter 24. The Black Tulip changes Masters
Cornelius remained standing on the spot where Rosa had left him. He wasquite overpowered with the weight of his twofold happiness.
Half an hour passed away. Already did the first rays of the sun enterthrough the iron grating of the prison, when Cornelius was suddenlystartled at the noise of steps which came up the staircase, and of crieswhich approached nearer and nearer.
Almost at the same instant he saw before him the pale and distractedface of Rosa.
He started, and turned pale with fright.
"Cornelius, Cornelius!" she screamed, gasping for breath.
"Good Heaven! what is it?" asked the prisoner.
"Cornelius! the tulip----"
"Well?"
"How shall I tell you?"
"Speak, speak, Rosa!"
"Some one has taken--stolen it from us."
"Stolen--taken?" said Cornelius.
"Yes," said Rosa, leaning against the door to support herself; "yes,taken, stolen!"
And saying this, she felt her limbs failing her, and she fell on herknees.
"But how? Tell me, explain to me."
"Oh, it is not my fault, my friend."
Poor Rosa! she no longer dared to call him "My beloved one."
"You have then left it alone," said Cornelius, ruefully.
"One minute only, to instruct our messenger, who lives scarcely fiftyyards off, on the banks of the Waal."
"And during that time, notwithstanding all my injunctions, you left thekey behind, unfortunate child!"
"No, no, no! this is what I cannot understand. The key was never out ofmy hands; I clinched it as if I were afraid it would take wings."
"But how did it happen, then?"
"That's what I cannot make out. I had given the letter to my messenger;he started before I left his house; I came home, and my door was locked,everything in my room was as I had left it, except the tulip,--that wasgone. Some one must have had a key for my room, or have got a false onemade on purpose."
She was nearly choking with sobs, and was unable to continue.
Cornelius, immovable and full of consternation, heard almost withoutunderstanding, and only muttered,--
"Stolen, stolen, and I am lost!"
"O Cornelius, forgive me, forgive me, it will kill me!"
Seeing Rosa's distress, Cornelius seized the iron bars of the grating,and furiously shaking them, called out,--
"Rosa, Rosa, we have been robbed, it is true, but shall we allowourselves to be dejected for all that? No, no; the misfortune is great,but it may perhaps be remedied. Rosa, we know the thief!"
"Alas! what can I say about it?"
"But I say that it is no one else but that infamous Jacob. Shall weallow him to carry to Haarlem the fruit of our labour, the fruit of oursleepless nights, the child of our love? Rosa, we must pursue, we mustovertake him!"
"But how can we do all this, my friend, without letting my father knowwe were in communication with each other? How should I, a poor girl,with so little knowledge of the world and its ways, be able to attainthis end, which perhaps you could not attain yourself?"
"Rosa, Rosa, open this door to me, and you will see whether I will notfind the thief,--whether I will not make him confess his crime and begfor mercy."
"Alas!" cried Rosa, sobbing, "can I open the door for you? have I thekeys? If I had had them, would not you have been free long ago?"
"Your father has them,--your wicked father, who has already crushed thefirst bulb of my tulip. Oh, the wretch! he is an accomplice of Jacob!"
"Don't speak so loud, for Heaven's sake!"
"Oh, Rosa, if you don't open the door to me," Cornelius cried in hisrage, "I shall force these bars, and kill everything I find in theprison."
"Be merciful, be merciful, my friend!"
"I tell you, Rosa, that I shall demolish this prison, stone for stone!"and the unfortunate man, whose strength was increased tenfold by hisrage, began to shake the door with a great noise, little heeding thatthe thunder of his voice was re-echoing through the spiral staircase.
Rosa, in her fright, made vain attempts to check this furious outbreak.
"I tell you that I shall kill that infamous Gryphus?" roared Cornelius."I tell you I shall shed his blood as he did that of my black tulip."
The wretched prisoner began really to rave.
"Well, then, yes," said Rosa, all in a tremble. "Yes, yes, only bequiet. Yes, yes, I will take his keys, I will open the door for you!Yes, only be quiet, my own dear Cornelius."
She did not finish her speech, as a growl by her side interrupted her.
"My father!" cried Rosa.
"Gryphus!" roared Van Baerle. "Oh, you villain!"
Old Gryphus, in the midst of all the noise, had ascended the staircasewithout being heard.
He rudely seized his daughter by the wrist.
"So you will take my keys?" he said, in a voice choked with rage. "Ah!this dastardly fellow, this monster, this gallows-bird of a conspirator,is your own dear Cornelius, is he? Ah! Missy has communications withprisoners of state. Ah! won't I teach you--won't I?"
Rosa clasped her hands in despair.
"Ah!" Gryphus continued, passing from the madness of anger to the coolirony of a man who has got the better of his enemy,--"Ah, you innocenttulip-fancier, you gentle scholar; you will kill me, and drink my blood!Very well! very well! And you have my daughter for an accomplice. AmI, forsooth, in a den of thieves,--in a cave of brigands? Yes, but theGovernor shall know all to-morrow, and his Highness the Stadtholderthe day after. We know the law,--we shall give a second edition of theBuytenhof, Master Scholar, and a good one this time. Yes, yes, just gnawyour paws like a bear in his cage, and you, my fine little lady, devouryour dear Cornelius with your eyes. I tell you, my lambkins, you shallnot much longer have the felicity of conspiring together. Away with you,unnatural daughter! And as to you, Master Scholar, we shall see eachother again. Just be quiet,--we shall."
Rosa, beyond herself with terror and despair, kissed her hands to herfriend; then, suddenly struck with a bright thought, she rushed towardthe staircase, saying,--
"All is not yet lost, Cornelius. Rely on me, my Cornelius."
Her father followed her, growling.
As to poor Cornelius, he gradually loosened his hold of the bars, whichhis fingers still grasped convulsively. His head was heavy, his eyesalmost started from their sockets, and he fell heavily on the floor ofhis cell, muttering,--
"Stolen! it has been stolen from me!"
During this time Boxtel had left the fortress by the door which Rosaherself had opened. He carried the black tulip wrapped up in a cloak,and, throwing himself into a coach, which was waiting for him at Gorcum,he drove off, without, as may well be imagined, having informed hisfriend Gryphus of his sudden departure.
And now, as we have seen him enter his coach, we shall with the consentof the reader, follow him to the end of his journey.
He proceeded but slowly, as the black tulip could not bear travellingpost-haste.
But Boxtel, fearing that he might not arrive early enough, procured atDelft a box, lined all round with fresh moss, in which he packed thetulip. The flower was so lightly pressed upon all sides, with a supplyof air from above, that the coach could now travel full speed withoutany possibility of injury to the tulip.
He arrived next morning at Haarlem, fatigued but triumphant; and, todo away with every trace of the theft, he transplanted the tulip, and,breaking the original flower-pot, threw the pieces into the canal. Afterwhich he wrote the President of the Horticultural Society a letter, inwhich he announced to him that he had just arrived at Haarlem witha perfectly black tulip; and, with his flower all safe, took up hisquarters at a good hotel in the town, and there he waited.