rmission to go wherever he liked, the
prison, with Rosa and his bulbs, would have appeared to him preferable
to any other habitation in the world without Rosa and his bulbs.

Rosa, in fact, had promised to come and see him every evening, and from
the first evening she had kept her word.

On the following evening she went up as before, with the same
mysteriousness and the same precaution. Only she had this time resolved
within herself not to approach too near the grating. In order, however,
to engage Van Baerle in a conversation from the very first which would
seriously occupy his attention, she tendered to him through the grating
the three bulbs, which were still wrapped up in the same paper.

But to the great astonishment of Rosa, Van Baerle pushed back her white
hand with the tips of his fingers.

The young man had been considering about the matter.

"Listen to me," he said. "I think we should risk too much by embarking
our whole fortune in one ship. Only think, my dear Rosa, that the
question is to carry out an enterprise which until now has been
considered impossible, namely, that of making the great black tulip
flower. Let us, therefore, take every possible precaution, so that in
case of a failure we may not have anything to reproach ourselves with. I
will now tell you the way I have traced out for us."

Rosa was all attention to what he would say, much 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 bulbs; 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