Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

It was indeed the order, which the burgher guard received

with a roar of triumph. They immediately sallied forth, with

lowered arms and fierce shouts, to meet Count Tilly’s

dragoons.

But the Count was not the man to allow them to approach

within an inconvenient distance.

“Stop!” he cried, “stop, and keep off from my horse, or I

shall give the word of command to advance.”

“Here is the order!” a hundred insolent voices answered at

once.

He took it in amazement, cast a rapid glance on it, and said

quite aloud, —

“Those who have signed this order are the real murderers of

Cornelius de Witt. I would rather have my two hands cut off

than have written one single letter of this infamous order.”

And, pushing back with the hilt of his sword the man who

wanted to take it from him, he added, —

“Wait a minute, papers like this are of importance, and are

to be kept.”

Saying this, he folded up the document, and carefully put it

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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

in the pocket of his coat.

Then, turning round towards his troop, he gave the word of

command, —

“Tilly’s dragoons, wheel to the right!”

After this, he added, in an undertone, yet loud enough for

his words to be not altogether lost to those about him, —

“And now, ye butchers, do your work!”

A savage yell, in which all the keen hatred and ferocious

triumph rife in the precincts of the prison simultaneously

burst forth, and accompanied the departure of the dragoons,

as they were quietly filing off.

The Count tarried behind, facing to the last the infuriated

populace, which advanced at the same rate as the Count

retired.

John de Witt, therefore, had by no means exaggerated the

danger, when, assisting his brother in getting up, he

hurried his departure. Cornelius, leaning on the arm of the

Ex-Grand Pensionary, descended the stairs which led to the

courtyard. At the bottom of the staircase he found little

Rosa, trembling all over.

“Oh, Mynheer John,” she said, “what a misfortune!”

“What is it, my child?” asked De Witt.

“They say that they are gone to the Town-hall to fetch the

order for Tilly’s horse to withdraw.”

“You do not say so!” replied John. “Indeed, my dear child,

if the dragoons are off, we shall be in a very sad plight.”

“I have some advice to give you,” Rosa said, trembling even

more violently than before.

“Well, let us hear what you have to say, my child. Why

should not God speak by your mouth?”

“Now, then, Mynheer John, if I were in your place, I should

not go out through the main street.”

“And why so, as the dragoons of Tilly are still at their

post?”

“Yes, but their order, as long as it is not revoked, enjoins

them to stop before the prison.”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Have you got an order for them to accompany you out of the

town?”

“We have not?”

“Well, then, in the very moment when you have passed the

ranks of the dragoons you will fall into the hands of the

people.”

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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

“But the burgher guard?”

“Alas! the burgher guard are the most enraged of all.”

“What are we to do, then?”

“If I were in your place, Mynheer John,” the young girl

timidly continued, “I should leave by the postern, which

leads into a deserted by-lane, whilst all the people are

waiting in the High Street to see you come out by the

principal entrance. From there I should try to reach the

gate by which you intend to leave the town.”

“But my brother is not able to walk,” said John.

“I shall try,” Cornelius said, with an expression of most

sublime fortitude.

“But have you not got your carriage?” asked the girl.

“The carriage is down near the great entrance.”

“Not so,” she replied. “I considered your coachman to be a

faithful man, and I told him to wait for you at the

postern.”

The two brothers looked first at each other, and then at

Rosa, with a glance full of the most tender gratitude.