tch that I am! Oh thrice fool Boxtel! Would any one be separated from
his bulbs? Would any one leave them at Dort, when one goes to the Hague?
Could one live far from one's bulbs, when they enclose the grand black
tulip? He had time to get hold of them, the scoundrel, he has them about
him, he has taken them to the Hague!"

It was like a flash of lightning which showed to Boxtel the abyss of a
uselessly committed crime.

Boxtel sank quite paralyzed on that very table, and on that very spot
where, some hours before, the unfortunate Van Baerle had so leisurely,
and with such intense delight, contemplated his darling bulbs.

"Well, then, after all," said the envious Boxtel,--raising his livid
face from his hands in which it had been buried--"if he has them, he can
keep them only as long as he lives, and----"

The rest of this detestable thought was expressed by a hideous smile.

"The bulbs are at the Hague," he said, "therefore, I can no longer live
at Dort: away, then, for them, to the Hague! to the Hague!"

And Boxtel, without taking any notice of the treasures about him, so
entirely were his thoughts absorbed by another inestimable treasure, let
himself out by the window, glided down the ladder, carried it back to
the place whence he had taken it, and, like a beast of prey, returned
growling to his house.

Chapter 9. The Family Cell

It was about midnight when poor Van Baerle was locked up in the prison
of the Buytenhof.

What Rosa foresaw had come to pass. On finding the cell of Cornelius
de Witt empty, the wrath of the people ran very high, and had Gryphus
fallen into the hands of those madmen he would certainly have had to pay
with his life for the prisoner.

But this fury had vented itself most fully on the two brothers when
they were overtaken by the murderers, thanks to the precaution which
William--the man of precautions--had taken in having the gates of the
city closed.

A momentary lull had therefore set in whilst the prison was empty, and
Rosa availed herself of this favourable moment to come forth from her
hiding place, which she also induced her father to leave.

The prison was therefore completely deserted. Why should people remain
in the jail whilst murder was going on at the Tol-Hek?

Gryphus came forth trembling behind the courageous Rosa. They went to
close the great gate, at least as well as it would close, considering
that it was half demolished. It was easy to see that a hurric