more on account of the importance which the unfortunate tulip-fancier attached to it, than that she felt interested in the matter herself.
“I will explain to you, Rosa,” he said. “I dare say you have in this fortress a small garden, or some courtyard, or, if not that, at least some terrace.”
“We have a very fine garden,” said Rosa; “it runs along the edge of the Waal, and is full of fine old trees.”
“Could you bring me some soil from the garden, that I may judge?”
“I will do so to-morrow.”
“Take some from a sunny spot, and some from a shady, so that I may judge of its properties in a dry and in a moist state.”
“Be assured I shall.”
“After having chosen the soil, and, if it be necessary, modified it, we will divide our three suckers; you will take one and plant it, on the day that I will tell you, in the soil chosen by me. It is sure to flower, if you tend it according to my directions.”
“I will not lose sight of it for a minute.”
“You will give me another, which I will try to grow here in my cell, and which will help me to beguile those long weary hours when I cannot see you. I confess to you I have very little hope for the latter one, and I look beforehand on this unfortunate bulb as sacrificed to my selfishness. However, the sun sometimes visits me. I will, besides, try to convert everything into an artificial help, even the heat and the ashes of my pipe; and lastly, we, or rather you, will keep in reserve the third sucker as our last resource, in case our first two experiments should prove a failure. In this manner, my dear Rosa, it is impossible that we should not succeed in gaining the hundred thousand guilders for your marriage-portion; and how dearly shall we enjoy that
