t, cautious as were his inquiries,
he had the disappointment of receiving no answer.

Cornelius regretted that he had no longer by his side the chatty
soldier, who would talk without being questioned.

That obliging person would undoubtedly have given him as pleasant
details and exact explanations concerning this third strange part of his
adventures as he had done concerning the first two.

The travellers passed the night in the carriage. On the following
morning at dawn Cornelius found himself beyond Leyden, having the North
Sea on his left, and the Zuyder Zee on his right.

Three hours after, he entered Haarlem.

Cornelius was not aware of what had passed at Haarlem, and we shall
leave him in ignorance of it until the course of events enlightens him.

But the reader has a right to know all about it even before our hero,
and therefore we shall not make him wait.

We have seen that Rosa and the tulip, like two orphan sisters, had
been left by Prince William of Orange at the house of the President van
Systens.

Rosa did not hear again from the Stadtholder until the evening of that
day on which she had seen him face to face.

Toward evening, an officer called at Van Systen's house. He came from
his Highness, with a request for Rosa to appear at the Town Hall.

There, in the large Council Room into which she was ushered, she found
the Prince writing.

He was alone, with a large Frisian greyhound at his feet, which looked
at him with a steady glance, as if the faithful animal were wishing to
do what no man could do,--read the thoughts of his master in his face.

William continued his writing for a moment; then, raising his eyes, and
seeing Rosa standing near the door, he said, without laying down his
pen,--

"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
scarcely turned them again to his paper when she bashfully retired to
the door.

The Prince finished his letter.

During this time, the greyhound went up to Rosa, surveyed her and began
to caress her.

"Ah, ah!" said William to his dog, "it's easy to see that she is a
countrywoman of yours, and that you recognise her."

Then, turning towards Rosa, and fixing on her his scrutinising, and at
the same time impenetrable glance, he said,--

"Now, my child."

The Prince was scarcely twenty-three, and Rosa eighteen or twenty. He
might ther