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Page 95
"Rosa, Rosa, if after all it should not flower black!"
"Oh, surely, surely, you will know to-morrow, or the day
after."
"And to wait until evening to know it, Rosa! I shall die
with impatience. Could we not agree about a signal?"
"I shall do better than that."
"What will you do?"
"If it opens at night, I shall come and tell you myself. If
it is day, I shall pass your door, and slip you a note
either under the door, or through the grating, during the
time between my father's first and second inspection."
"Yes, Rosa, let it be so. One word of yours, announcing this
news to me, will be a double happiness."
"There, ten o'clock strikes," said Rosa, "I must now leave
you."
"Yes, yes," said Cornelius, "go, Rosa, go!"
Rosa withdrew, almost melancholy, for Cornelius had all but
sent her away.
It is true that he did so in order that she might watch over
his black tulip.
Chapter 22
The Opening of the Flower
The night passed away very sweetly for Cornelius, although
in great agitation. Every instant he fancied he heard the
gentle voice of Rosa calling him. He then started up, went
to the door, and looked through the grating, but no one was
behind it, and the lobby was empty.
Rosa, no doubt, would be watching too, but, happier than he,
she watched over the tulip; she had before her eyes that
noble flower, that wonder of wonders, which not only was
unknown, but was not even thought possible until then.
What would the world say when it heard that the black tulip
was found, that it existed and that it was the prisoner Van
Baerle who had found it?
How Cornelius would have spurned the offer of his liberty in
exchange for his tulip!
Day came, without any news; the tulip was not yet in flower.
The day passed as the night. Night came, and with it Rosa,
joyous and cheerful as a bird.
"Well?" asked Cornelius.
"Well, all is going on prosperously. This night, without any
doubt, our tulip will be in flower."
"And will it flower black?"
"Black as jet."
"Without a speck of any other colour."
"Without one speck."
"Good Heavens! my dear Rosa, I have been dreaming all night,
in the first place of you," (Rosa made a sign of
incredulity,) "and then of what we must do."
"Well?"
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