be loved. Don't
blush, Rosa, nor turn away; and even if I were making you a declaration
of love, alas! poor dear, it would be of no more consequence. Down there
in the yard, there is an instrument of steel, which in sixty minutes
will put an end to my boldness. Well, Rosa, I loved flowers dearly, and
I have found, or at least I believe so, the secret of the great black
tulip, which it has been considered impossible to grow, and for which,
as you know, or may not know, a prize of a hundred thousand guilders
has been offered by the Horticultural Society of Haarlem. These hundred
thousand guilders--and Heaven knows I do not regret them--these hundred
thousand guilders I have here in this paper, for they are won by the
three bulbs wrapped up in it, which you may take, Rosa, as I make you a
present of them."

"Mynheer Cornelius!"

"Yes, yes, Rosa, you may take them; you are not wronging any one, my
child. I am alone in this world; my parents are dead; I never had a
sister or a brother. I have never had a thought of loving any one with
what is called love, and if any one has loved me, I have not known it.
However, you see well, Rosa, that I am abandoned by everybody, as
in this sad hour you alone are with me in my prison, consoling and
assisting me."

"But, sir, a hundred thousand guilders!"

"Well, let us talk seriously, my dear child: those hundred thousand
guilders will be a nice marriage portion, with your pretty face; you
shall have them, Rosa, dear Rosa, and I ask nothing in return but your
promise that you will marry a fine young man, whom you love, and who
will love you, as dearly as I loved my flowers. Don't interrupt me, Rosa
dear, I have only a few minutes more."

The poor girl was nearly choking with her sobs.

Cornelius took her by the hand.

"Listen to me," he continued: "I'll tell you how to manage it. Go to
Dort and ask Butruysheim, my gardener, for soil from my border number
six, fill a deep box with it, and plant in it these three bulbs. They
will flower next May, that is to say, in seven months; and, when you see
the flower forming on the stem, be careful at night to protect them
from the wind, and by day to screen them from the sun. They will flower
black, I am quite sure of it. You are then to apprise the President of
the Haarlem Society. He will cause the color of the flower to be proved
before a committee and these hundred thousand guilders will be paid to
you."

Rosa heaved a deep sigh.

"