Chapter 25. The President van Systens
Rosa, on leaving Cornelius, had fixed on her plan, which was no otherthan to restore to Cornelius the stolen tulip, or never to see himagain.
She had seen the despair of the prisoner, and she knew that it wasderived from a double source, and that it was incurable.
On the one hand, separation became inevitable,--Gryphus having atthe same time surprised the secret of their love and of their secretmeetings.
On the other hand, all the hopes on the fulfilment of which Corneliusvan Baerle had rested his ambition for the last seven years were nowcrushed.
Rosa was one of those women who are dejected by trifles, but who ingreat emergencies are supplied by the misfortune itself with the energyfor combating or with the resources for remedying it.
She went to her room, and cast a last glance about her to see whethershe had not been mistaken, and whether the tulip was not stowed away insome corner where it had escaped her notice. But she sought in vain, thetulip was still missing; the tulip was indeed stolen.
Rosa made up a little parcel of things indispensable for a journey; tookher three hundred guilders,--that is to say, all her fortune,--fetchedthe third bulb from among her lace, where she had laid it up, andcarefully hid it in her bosom; after which she locked her door twice todisguise her flight as long as possible, and, leaving the prison bythe same door which an hour before had let out Boxtel, she went to astable-keeper to hire a carriage.
The man had only a two-wheel chaise, and this was the vehicle whichBoxtel had hired since last evening, and in which he was now drivingalong the road to Delft; for the road from Loewestein to Haarlem, owingto the many canals, rivers, and rivulets intersecting the country, isexceedingly circuitous.
Not being able to procure a vehicle, Rosa was obliged to take a horse,with which the stable-keeper readily intrusted her, knowing her to bethe daughter of the jailer of the fortress.
Rosa hoped to overtake her messenger, a kind-hearted and honest lad,whom she would take with her, and who might at the same time serve heras a guide and a protector.
And in fact she had not proceeded more than a league before she sawhim hastening along one of the side paths of a very pretty road by theriver. Setting her horse off at a canter, she soon came up with him.
The honest lad was not aware of the important character of his message;nevertheless, he used as much speed as if he had known it; and in lessthan an hour he had already gone a league and a half.
Rosa took from him the note, which had now become useless, and explainedto him what she wanted him to do for her. The boatman placed himselfentirely at her disposal, promising to keep pace with the horse if Rosawould allow him to take hold of either the croup or the bridle of herhorse. The two travellers had been on their way for five hours, and mademore than eight leagues, and yet Gryphus had not the least suspicion ofhis daughter having left the fortress.
The jailer, who was of a very spiteful and cruel disposition, chuckledwithin himself at the idea of having struck such terror into hisdaughter's heart.
But whilst he was congratulating himself on having such a nice story totell to his boon companion, Jacob, that worthy was on his road to Delft;and, thanks to the swiftness of the horse, had already the start of Rosaand her companion by four leagues.
And whilst the affectionate father was rejoicing at the thought ofhis daughter weeping in her room, Rosa was making the best of her waytowards Haarlem.
Thus the prisoner alone was where Gryphus thought him to be.
Rosa was so little with her father since she took care of the tulip,that at his dinner hour, that is to say, at twelve o'clock, he wasreminded for the first time by his appetite that his daughter wasfretting rather too long.
He sent one of the under-turnkeys to call her; and, when the man cameback to tell him that he had called and sought her in vain, he resolvedto go and call her himself.
He first went to her room, but, loud as he knocked, Rosa answered not.
The locksmith of the fortress was sent for; he opened the door, butGryphus no more found Rosa than she had found the tulip.
At that very moment she entered Rotterdam.
Gryphus therefore had just as little chance of finding her in thekitchen as in her room, and just as little in the garden as in thekitchen.
The reader may imagine the anger of the jailer when, after having madeinquiries about the neighbourhood, he heard that his daughter had hireda horse, and, like an adventuress, set out on a journey without sayingwhere she was going.
Gryphus again went up in his fury to Van Baerle, abused him, threatenedhim, knocked all the miserable furniture of his cell about, and promisedhim all sorts of misery, even starvation and flogging.
Cornelius, without even hearing what his jailer said, allowed himself tobe ill-treated, abused, and threatened, remaining all the while sullen,immovable, dead to every emotion and fear.
After having sought for Rosa in every direction, Gryphus looked out forJacob, and, as he could not find him either, he began to suspect fromthat moment that Jacob had run away with her.
The damsel, meanwhile, after having stopped for two hours at Rotterdam,had started again on her journey. On that evening she slept at Delft,and on the following morning she reached Haarlem, four hours afterBoxtel had arrived there.
Rosa, first of all, caused herself to be led before Mynheer van Systens,the President of the Horticultural Society of Haarlem.
She found that worthy gentleman in a situation which, to do justice toour story, we must not pass over in our description.
The President was drawing up a report to the committee of the society.
This report was written on large-sized paper, in the finest handwritingof the President.
Rosa was announced simply as Rosa Gryphus; but as her name, well as itmight sound, was unknown to the President, she was refused admittance.
Rosa, however, was by no means abashed, having vowed in her heart,in pursuing her cause, not to allow herself to be put down either byrefusal, or abuse, or even brutality.
"Announce to the President," she said to the servant, "that I want tospeak to him about the black tulip."
These words seemed to be an "Open Sesame," for she soon found herselfin the office of the President, Van Systens, who gallantly rose from hischair to meet her.
He was a spare little man, resembling the stem of a flower, his headforming its chalice, and his two limp arms representing the double leafof the tulip; the resemblance was rendered complete by his waddling gaitwhich made him even more like that flower when it bends under a breeze.
"Well, miss," he said, "you are coming, I am told, about the affair ofthe black tulip."
To the President of the Horticultural Society the Tulipa nigra was afirst-rate power, which, in its character as queen of the tulips, mightsend ambassadors.
"Yes, sir," answered Rosa; "I come at least to speak of it."
"Is it doing well, then?" asked Van Systens, with a smile of tenderveneration.
"Alas! sir, I don't know," said Rosa.
"How is that? could any misfortune have happened to it?"
"A very great one, sir; yet not to it, but to me."
"What?"
"It has been stolen from me."
"Stolen! the black tulip?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you know the thief?"
"I have my suspicions, but I must not yet accuse any one."
"But the matter may very easily be ascertained."
"How is that?"
"As it has been stolen from you, the thief cannot be far off."
"Why not?"
"Because I have seen the black tulip only two hours ago."
"You have seen the black tulip!" cried Rosa, rushing up to Mynheer vanSystens.
"As I see you, miss."
"But where?"
"Well, with your master, of course."
"With my master?"
"Yes, are you not in the service of Master Isaac Boxtel?"
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br /> "I?"
"Yes, you."
"But for whom do you take me, sir?"
"And for whom do you take me?"
"I hope, sir, I take you for what you are,--that is to say, for thehonorable Mynheer van Systens, Burgomaster of Haarlem, and President ofthe Horticultural Society."
"And what is it you told me just now?"
"I told you, sir, that my tulip has been stolen."
"Then your tulip is that of Mynheer Boxtel. Well, my child, you expressyourself very badly. The tulip has been stolen, not from you, but fromMynheer Boxtel."
"I repeat to you, sir, that I do not know who this Mynheer Boxtel is,and that I have now heard his name pronounced for the first time."
"You do not know who Mynheer Boxtel is, and you also had a black tulip?"
"But is there any other besides mine?" asked Rosa, trembling.
"Yes,--that of Mynheer Boxtel."
"How is it?"
"Black, of course."
"Without speck?"
"Without a single speck, or even point."
"And you have this tulip,--you have it deposited here?"
"No, but it will be, as it has to be exhibited before the committeeprevious to the prize being awarded."
"Oh, sir!" cried Rosa, "this Boxtel--this Isaac Boxtel--who callshimself the owner of the black tulip----"
"And who is its owner?"
"Is he not a very thin man?"
"Bald?"
"Yes."
"With sunken eyes?"
"I think he has."
"Restless, stooping, and bowlegged?"
"In truth, you draw Master Boxtel's portrait feature by feature."
"And the tulip, sir? Is it not in a pot of white and blue earthenware,with yellowish flowers in a basket on three sides?"
"Oh, as to that I am not quite sure; I looked more at the flower than atthe pot."
"Oh, sir! that's my tulip, which has been stolen from me. I came here toreclaim it before you and from you."
"Oh! oh!" said Van Systens, looking at Rosa. "What! you are hereto claim the tulip of Master Boxtel? Well, I must say, you are coolenough."
"Honoured sir," a little put out by this apostrophe, "I do not say thatI am coming to claim the tulip of Master Boxtel, but to reclaim my own."
"Yours?"
"Yes, the one which I have myself planted and nursed."
"Well, then, go and find out Master Boxtel, at the White Swan Inn, andyou can then settle matters with him; as for me, considering that thecause seems to me as difficult to judge as that which was brought beforeKing Solomon, and that I do not pretend to be as wise as he was, I shallcontent myself with making my report, establishing the existence of theblack tulip, and ordering the hundred thousand guilders to be paid toits grower. Good-bye, my child."
"Oh, sir, sir!" said Rosa, imploringly.
"Only, my child," continued Van Systens, "as you are young and pretty,and as there may be still some good in you, I'll give you some goodadvice. Be prudent in this matter, for we have a court of justice anda prison here at Haarlem, and, moreover, we are exceedingly ticklishas far as the honour of our tulips is concerned. Go, my child, go,remember, Master Isaac Boxtel at the White Swan Inn."
And Mynheer van Systens, taking up his fine pen, resumed his report,which had been interrupted by Rosa's visit.