“You give me the hundred thousand guilders as a marriage-portion, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And under the condition of my marrying a man whom I love?”
“Certainly.”
“Well, then, sir, this money cannot belong to me. I shall never love any one; neither shall I marry.”
And, after having with difficulty uttered these words, Rosa almost swooned away in the violence of her grief.
Cornelius, frightened at seeing her so pale and sinking, was going to take her in his arms, when a heavy step, followed by other dismal sounds, was heard on the staircase, amidst the continued barking of the dog.
“They are coming to fetch you. Oh, God! Oh, God!” cried Rosa, wringing her hands. “And have you nothing more to tell me?”
She fell on her knees, with her face buried in her hands, and became almost senseless.
“I have only to say, that I wish you to preserve these bulbs as the most precious treasure, and carefully to treat them according to the directions I have given you do it for my sake, and now farewell, Rosa.”
“Yes, yes;” she said, without raising her head, “I will do anything you bid me, except marrying,” she added, in a low voice, “for that, oh! that is impossible for me.”
She then put that cherished treasure next her beating heart.
The noise on the staircase which Cornelius and Rosa had heard was caused by the Recorder, who was coming for the prisoner. He was followed by the executioner, by the soldiers who were to form the guard round the scaffold, and by some curious hangers-on of the prison.
