grew in the most profound secrecy, and as, moreover,
his word, being that of a renowned tulip-grower, would any day be taken
against that of an unknown girl without any knowledge of horticulture,
or against that of a prisoner convicted of high treason, he confidently
hoped that, having once got possession of the bulb, he would be certain
to obtain the prize; and then the tulip, instead of being called Tulipa
nigra Barlaensis, would go down to posterity under the name of Tulipa
nigra Boxtellensis or Boxtellea.

Mynheer Isaac had not yet quite decided which of these two names he
would give to the tulip, but, as both meant the same thing, this was,
after all, not the important point.

The point was to steal the tulip. But in order that Boxtel might steal
the tulip, it was necessary that Rosa should leave her room.

Great therefore was his joy when he saw the usual evening meetings of
the lovers resumed.

He first of all took advantage of Rosa's absence to make himself fully
acquainted with all the peculiarities of the door of her chamber. The
lock was a double one and in good order, but Rosa always took the key
with her.

Boxtel at first entertained an idea of stealing the key, but it soon
occurred to him, not only that it would be exceedingly difficult to
abstract it from her pocket, but also that, when she perceived her
loss, she would not leave her room until the lock was changed, and then
Boxtel's first theft would be useless.

He thought it, therefore, better to employ a different expedient. He
collected as many keys as he could, and tried all of them during one of
those delightful hours which Rosa and Cornelius passed together at the
grating of the cell.

Two of the keys entered the lock, and one of them turned round once, but
not the second time.

There was, therefore, only a little to be done to this key.

Boxtel covered it with a slight coat of wax, and when he thus renewed
the experiment, the obstacle which prevented the key from being turned a
second time left its impression on the wax.

It cost Boxtel two days more to bring his key to perfection, with the
aid of a small file.

Rosa's door thus opened without noise and without difficulty, and Boxtel
found himself in her room alone with the tulip.

The first guilty act of Boxtel had been to climb over a wall in order to
dig up the tulip; the second, to introduce himself into the dry-room of
Cornelius, through an open window; and the third, to ente