Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

“The question is now,” said the Grand Pensionary, “whether

Gryphus will open this door for us.”

“Indeed, he will do no such thing,” said Rosa.

“Well, and how then?”

“I have foreseen his refusal, and just now whilst he was

talking from the window of the porter’s lodge with a

dragoon, I took away the key from his bunch.”

“And you have got it?”

“Here it is, Mynheer John.”

“My child,” said Cornelius, “I have nothing to give you in

exchange for the service you are rendering us but the Bible

which you will find in my room; it is the last gift of an

honest man; I hope it will bring you good luck.”

“I thank you, Master Cornelius, it shall never leave me,”

replied Rosa.

And then, with a sigh, she said to herself, “What a pity

that I do not know how to read!”

“The shouts and cries are growing louder and louder,” said

John; “there is not a moment to be lost.”

“Come along, gentlemen,” said the girl, who now led the two

brothers through an inner lobby to the back of the prison.

Guided by her, they descended a staircase of about a dozen

steps; traversed a small courtyard, which was surrounded by

castellated walls; and, the arched door having been opened

for them by Rosa, they emerged into a lonely street where

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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

their carriage was ready to receive them.

“Quick, quick, my masters! do you hear them?” cried the

coachman, in a deadly fright.

Yet, after having made Cornelius get into the carriage

first, the Grand Pensionary turned round towards the girl,

to whom he said, —

“Good-bye, my child! words could never express our

gratitude. God will reward you for having saved the lives of

two men.”

Rosa took the hand which John de Witt proffered to her, and

kissed it with every show of respect.

“Go! for Heaven’s sake, go!” she said; “it seems they are

going to force the gate.”

John de Witt hastily got in, sat himself down by the side of

his brother, and, fastening the apron of the carriage,

called out to the coachman, —

“To the Tol-Hek!”

The Tol-Hek was the iron gate leading to the harbor of

Schevening, in which a small vessel was waiting for the two

brothers.

The carriage drove off with the fugitives at the full speed

of a pair of spirited Flemish horses. Rosa followed them

with her eyes until they turned the corner of the street,

upon which, closing the door after her, she went back and

threw the key into a cell.

The noise which had made Rosa suppose that the people were

forcing the prison door was indeed owing to the mob

battering against it after the square had been left by the

military.

Solid as the gate was, and although Gryphus, to do him

justice, stoutly enough refused to open it, yet evidently it

could not resist much longer, and the jailer, growing very

pale, put to himself the question whether it would not be

better to open the door than to allow it to be forced, when

he felt some one gently pulling his coat.

He turned round and saw Rosa.

“Do you hear these madmen?” he said.

“I hear them so well, my father, that in your place —- ”

“You would open the door?”

“No, I should allow it to be forced.”

“But they will kill me!”

“Yes, if they see you.”

“How shall they not see me?”

“Hide yourself.”

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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip

“Where?”

“In the secret dungeon.”

“But you, my child?”

“I shall get into it with you. We shall lock the door and

when they have left the prison, we shall again come forth

from our hiding place.”

“Zounds, you are right, there!” cried Gryphus; “it’s

surprising how much sense there is in such a little head!”

Then, as the gate began to give way amidst the triumphant

shouts of the mob, she opened a little trap-door, and said,

—

“Come along, come along, father.”

“But our prisoners?”

“God will watch over them, and I shall watch over you.”

Gryphus followed his daughter, and the trap-door closed over