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The Black Tulip, a novel by Alexandre Dumas |
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Chapter 30. Wherein the Reader begins to guess the Kind of Execution that was awaiting Van Baerle |
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_ The carriage rolled on during the whole day; it passed on the right of Dort, went through Rotterdam, and reached Delft. At five o'clock in the evening, at least twenty leagues had been travelled. Cornelius addressed some questions to the officer, who was at the same Cornelius regretted that he had no longer by his side the chatty That obliging person would undoubtedly have given him as pleasant The travellers passed the night in the carriage. On the following Three hours after, he entered Haarlem. Cornelius was not aware of what had passed at Haarlem, and we shall But the reader has a right to know all about it even before our hero, We have seen that Rosa and the tulip, like two orphan sisters, had Rosa did not hear again from the Stadtholder until the evening of that Toward evening, an officer called at Van Systen's house. He came from There, in the large Council Room into which she was ushered, she found He was alone, with a large Frisian greyhound at his feet, which looked William continued his writing for a moment; then, raising his eyes, and "Come here, my child." Rosa advanced a few steps towards the table. "Sit down," he said. Rosa obeyed, for the Prince was fixing his eyes upon her, but he had The Prince finished his letter. During this time, the greyhound went up to Rosa, surveyed her and began "Ah, ah!" said William to his dog, "it's easy to see that she is a Then, turning towards Rosa, and fixing on her his scrutinising, and at "Now, my child." The Prince was scarcely twenty-three, and Rosa eighteen or twenty. He "My child," he said, with that strangely commanding accent which chilled Rosa began to tremble, and yet there was nothing but kindness in the "Monseigneur," she stammered. "You have a father at Loewestein?" "Yes, your Highness." "You do not love him?" "I do not; at least, not as a daughter ought to do, Monseigneur." "It is not right not to love one's father, but it is right not to tell a Rosa cast her eyes to the ground. "What is the reason of your not loving your father?" "He is wicked." "In what way does he show his wickedness?" "He ill-treats the prisoners." "All of them?" "All." "But don't you bear him a grudge for ill-treating some one in "My father ill-treats in particular Mynheer van Baerle, who----" "Who is your lover?" Rosa started back a step. "Whom I love, Monseigneur," she answered proudly. "Since when?" asked the Prince. "Since the day when I first saw him." "And when was that?" "The day after that on which the Grand Pensionary John and his brother The Prince compressed his lips, and knit his brow and his eyelids "But to what can it lead to love a man who is doomed to live and die in "It will lead, if he lives and dies in prison, to my aiding him in life "And would you accept the lot of being the wife of a prisoner?" "As the wife of Mynheer van Baerle, I should, under any circumstances, "But what?" "I dare not say, Monseigneur." "There is something like hope in your tone; what do you hope?" She raised her moist and beautiful eyes, and looked at William with a "Ah, I understand you," he said. Rosa, with a smile, clasped her hands. "You hope in me?" said the Prince. "Yes, Monseigneur." "Umph!" The Prince sealed the letter which he had just written, and summoned one "Captain van Deken, carry this despatch to Loewestein; you will read The officer bowed, and a few minutes afterwards the gallop of a horse "My child," continued the Prince, "the feast of the tulip will be on "How does your Highness wish me to be dressed?" faltered Rosa. "Take the costume of a Frisian bride." said William; "it will suit you |