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Page 74
"Then I come back to what I thought before; and the more so
as last evening at sunset, whilst I was arranging the border
where I am to plant your bulb, I saw a shadow gliding
between the alder trees and the aspens. I did not appear to
see him, but it was this man. He concealed himself and saw
me digging the ground, and certainly it was me whom he
followed, and me whom he was spying after. I could not move
my rake, or touch one atom of soil, without his noticing
it."
"Oh, yes, yes, he is in love with you," said Cornelius. "Is
he young? Is he handsome?"
Saying this he looked anxiously at Rosa, eagerly waiting for
her answer.
"Young? handsome?" cried Rosa, bursting into a laugh. "He is
hideous to look at; crooked, nearly fifty years of age, and
never dares to look me in the face, or to speak, except in
an undertone."
"And his name?"
"Jacob Gisels."
"I don't know him."
"Then you see that, at all events, he does not come after
you."
"At any rate, if he loves you, Rosa, which is very likely,
as to see you is to love you, at least you don't love him."
"To be sure I don't."
"Then you wish me to keep my mind easy?"
"I should certainly ask you to do so."
"Well, then, now as you begin to know how to read you will
read all that I write to you of the pangs of jealousy and of
absence, won't you, Rosa?"
"I shall read it, if you write with good big letters."
Then, as the turn which the conversation took began to make
Rosa uneasy, she asked, --
"By the bye, how is your tulip going on?"
"Oh, Rosa, only imagine my joy, this morning I looked at it
in the sun, and after having moved the soil aside which
covers the bulb, I saw the first sprouting of the leaves.
This small germ has caused me a much greater emotion than
the order of his Highness which turned aside the sword
already raised at the Buytenhof."
"You hope, then?" said Rosa, smiling.
"Yes, yes, I hope."
"And I, in my turn, when shall I plant my bulb?"
"Oh, the first favourable day I will tell you; but, whatever
you do, let nobody help you, and don't confide your secret
to any one in the world; do you see, a connoisseur by merely
looking at the bulb would be able to distinguish its value;
and so, my dearest Rosa, be careful in locking up the third
sucker which remains to you."
"It is still wrapped up in the same paper in which you put
it, and just as you gave it me. I have laid it at the bottom
of my chest under my point lace, which keeps it dry, without
pressing upon it. But good night, my poor captive
gentleman."
"How? already?"
"It must be, it must be."
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