“I told you, sir, that my tulip has been stolen.”
“Then your tulip is that of Mynheer Boxtel. Well, my child,
you express yourself very badly. The tulip has been stolen,
not from you, but from Mynheer Boxtel.”
“I repeat to you, sir, that I do not know who this Mynheer
Boxtel is, and that I have now heard his name pronounced for
the first time.”
“You do not know who Mynheer Boxtel is, and you also had a
black tulip?”
“But is there any other besides mine?” asked Rosa,
trembling.
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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip
“Yes, — that of Mynheer Boxtel.”
“How is it?”
“Black, of course.”
“Without speck?”
“Without a single speck, or even point.”
“And you have this tulip, — you have it deposited here?”
“No, but it will be, as it has to be exhibited before the
committee previous to the prize being awarded.”
“Oh, sir!” cried Rosa, “this Boxtel — this Isaac Boxtel —
who calls himself the owner of the black tulip —- ”
“And who is its owner?”
“Is he not a very thin man?”
“Bald?”
“Yes.”
“With sunken eyes?”
“I think he has.”
“Restless, stooping, and bowlegged?”
“In truth, you draw Master Boxtel’s portrait feature by
feature.”
“And the tulip, sir? Is it not in a pot of white and blue
earthenware, with yellowish flowers in a basket on three
sides?”
“Oh, as to that I am not quite sure; I looked more at the
flower than at the pot.”
“Oh, sir! that’s my tulip, which has been stolen from me. I
came here to reclaim it before you and from you.”
“Oh! oh!” said Van Systens, looking at Rosa. “What! you are
here to claim the tulip of Master Boxtel? Well, I must say,
you are cool enough.”
“Honoured sir,” a little put out by this apostrophe, “I do
not say that I am coming to claim the tulip of Master
Boxtel, but to reclaim my own.”
“Yours?”
“Yes, the one which I have myself planted and nursed.”
“Well, then, go and find out Master Boxtel, at the White
Swan Inn, and you can then settle matters with him; as for
me, considering that the cause seems to me as difficult to
judge as that which was brought before King Solomon, and
that I do not pretend to be as wise as he was, I shall
content myself with making my report, establishing the
existence of the black tulip, and ordering the hundred
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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip
thousand guilders to be paid to its grower. Good-bye, my
child.”
“Oh, sir, sir!” said Rosa, imploringly.
“Only, my child,” continued Van Systens, “as you are young
and pretty, and as there may be still some good in you, I’ll
give you some good advice. Be prudent in this matter, for we
have a court of justice and a prison here at Haarlem, and,
moreover, we are exceedingly ticklish as far as the honour
of our tulips is concerned. Go, my child, go, remember,
Master Isaac Boxtel at the White Swan Inn.”
And Mynheer van Systens, taking up his fine pen, resumed his
report, which had been interrupted by Rosa’s visit.
Chapter 26
A Member of the Horticultural Society
Rosa, beyond herself and nearly mad with joy and fear at the
idea of the black tulip being found again, started for the
White Swan, followed by the boatman, a stout lad from
Frisia, who was strong enough to knock down a dozen Boxtels
single-handed.
He had been made acquainted in the course of the journey
with the state of affairs, and was not afraid of any
encounter; only he had orders, in such a case, to spare the
tulip.
But on arriving in the great market-place Rosa at once
stopped, a sudden thought had struck her, just as Homer’s
Minerva seizes Achilles by the hair at the moment when he is
about to be carried away by his anger.
“Good Heaven!” she muttered to herself, “I have made a
grievous blunder; it may be I have ruined Cornelius, the
tulip, and myself. I have given the alarm, and perhaps
awakened suspicion. I am but a woman; these men may league