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Page 78
"And who put it into him?"
"If you only knew how his friend scolded him!"
"Ah, Master Jacob; he does not leave you, then, that Master
Jacob?"
"At any rate, he leaves us as little as he can help."
Saying this, she smiled in such a way that the little cloud
of jealousy which had darkened the brow of Cornelius
speedily vanished.
"How was it?" asked the prisoner.
"Well, being asked by his friend, my father told at supper
the whole story of the tulip, or rather of the bulb, and of
his own fine exploit of crushing it."
Cornelius heaved a sigh, which might have been called a
groan.
"Had you only seen Master Jacob at that moment!" continued
Rosa. "I really thought he would set fire to the castle; his
eyes were like two flaming torches, his hair stood on end,
and he clinched his fist for a moment; I thought he would
have strangled my father."
"'You have done that,' he cried, 'you have crushed the
bulb?'
"'Indeed I have.'
"'It is infamous,' said Master Jacob, 'it is odious! You
have committed a great crime!'
"My father was quite dumbfounded.
"'Are you mad, too?' he asked his friend."
"Oh, what a worthy man is this Master Jacob!" muttered
Cornelius, -- "an honest soul, an excellent heart that he
is."
"The truth is, that it is impossible to treat a man more
rudely than he did my father; he was really quite in
despair, repeating over and over again, --
"'Crushed, crushed the bulb! my God, my God! crushed!'
"Then, turning toward me, he asked, 'But it was not the only
one that he had?'"
"Did he ask that?" inquired Cornelius, with some anxiety.
"'You think it was not the only one?' said my father. 'Very
well, we shall search for the others.'
"'You will search for the others?' cried Jacob, taking my
father by the collar; but he immediately loosed him. Then,
turning towards me, he continued, asking 'And what did that
poor young man say?'
"I did not know what to answer, as you had so strictly
enjoined me never to allow any one to guess the interest
which you are taking in the bulb. Fortunately, my father
saved me from the difficulty by chiming in, --
"'What did he say? Didn't he fume and fret?'
"I interrupted him, saying, 'Was it not natural that he
should be furious, you were so unjust and brutal, father?'
"'Well, now, are you mad?' cried my father; 'what immense
misfortune is it to crush a tulip bulb? You may buy a
hundred of them in the market of Gorcum.'
"'Perhaps some less precious one than that was!' I quite
incautiously replied."
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