It was indeed in itself a great honour for Cornelius vanBaerle to be confined in the same prison which had oncereceived the learned master Grotius.
But on arriving at the prison he met with an honour evengreater. As chance would have it, the cell formerlyinhabited by the illustrious Barneveldt happened to bevacant, when the clemency of the Prince of Orange sent thetulip-fancier Van Baerle there.
The cell had a very bad character at the castle since thetime when Grotius, by means of the device of his wife, madeescape from it in that famous book-chest which the jailersforgot to examine.
On the other hand, it seemed to Van Baerle an auspiciousomen that this very cell was assigned to him, for accordingto his ideas, a jailer ought never to have given to a secondpigeon the cage from which the first had so easily flown.
The cell had an historical character. We will only statehere that, with the exception of an alcove which wascontrived there for the use of Madame Grotius, it differedin no respect from the other cells of the prison; only,perhaps, it was a little higher, and had a splendid viewfrom the grated window.
Cornelius felt himself perfectly indifferent as to the placewhere he had to lead an existence which was little more thanvegetation. There were only two things now for which hecared, and the possession of which was a happiness enjoyedonly in imagination.
A flower, and a woman; both of them, as he conceived, lostto him for ever.
Fortunately the good doctor was mistaken. In his prison cellthe most adventurous life which ever fell to the lot of anytulip-fancier was reserved for him.
One morning, whilst at his window inhaling the fresh airwhich came from the river, and casting a longing look to thewindmills of his dear old city Dort, which were looming inthe distance behind a forest of chimneys, he saw flocks ofpigeons coming from that quarter to perch fluttering on thepointed gables of Loewestein.
These pigeons, Van Baerle said to himself, are coming fromDort, and consequently may return there. By fastening alittle note to the wing of one of these pigeons, one mighthave a chance to send a message there. Then, after a fewmoments' consideration, he exclaimed, --"I will do it."A man grows very patient who is twenty-eight years of age,and condemned to a prison for life, -- that is to say, tosomething like twenty-two or twenty-three thousand days ofcaptivity.
Van Baerle, from whose thoughts the three bulbs were neverabsent, made a snare for catching the pigeons, baiting thebirds with all the resources of his kitchen, such as it wasfor eight slivers (sixpence English) a day; and, after amonth of unsuccessful attempts, he at last caught a femalebird.
It cost him two more months to catch a male bird; he thenshut them up together, and having about the beginning of theyear 1673 obtained some eggs from them, he released thefemale, which, leaving the male behind to hatch the eggs inher stead, flew joyously to Dort, with the note under herwing.
She returned in the evening. She had preserved the note.
Thus it went on for fifteen days, at first to thedisappointment, and then to the great grief, of Van Baerle.
On the sixteenth day, at last, she came back without it.
Van Baerle had addressed it to his nurse, the old Frisianwoman; and implored any charitable soul who might find it toconvey it to her as safely and as speedily as possible.
In this letter there was a little note enclosed for Rosa.
Van Baerle's nurse had received the letter in the followingway.
Leaving Dort, Mynheer Isaac Boxtel had abandoned, not onlyhis house, his servants, his observatory, and his telescope,but also his pigeons.
The servant, having been left without wages, first lived onhis little savings, and then on his master's pigeons.
Seeing this, the pigeons emigrated from the roof of IsaacBoxtel to that of Cornelius van Baerle.
The nurse was a kind-hearted woman, who could not livewithout something to love. She conceived an affection forthe pigeons which had thrown themselves on her hospitality;and when Boxtel's servant reclaimed them with culinaryintentions, having eaten the first fifteen already, and nowwishing to eat the other fifteen, she offered to buy themfrom him for a consideration of six stivers per head.
This being just double their value, the man was very glad toclose the bargain, and the nurse found herself in undisputedpossession of the pigeons of her master's envious neighbour.
In the course of their wanderings, these pigeons with othersvisited the Hague, Loewestein, and Rotterdam, seekingvariety, doubtless, in the flavour of their wheat orhempseed.
Chance, or rather God, for we can see the hand of God ineverything, had willed that Cornelius van Baerle shouldhappen to hit upon one of these very pigeons.
Therefore, if the envious wretch had not left Dort to followhis rival to the Hague in the first place, and then toGorcum or to Loewestein, -- for the two places are separatedonly by the confluence of the Waal and the Meuse, -- VanBaerle's letter would have fallen into his hands and not thenurse's: in which event the poor prisoner, like the raven ofthe Roman cobbler, would have thrown away his time, histrouble, and, instead of having to relate the series ofexciting events which are about to flow from beneath our penlike the varied hues of a many coloured tapestry, we shouldhave naught to describe but a weary waste of days, dull andmelancholy and gloomy as night's dark mantle.
The note, as we have said, had reached Van Baerle's nurse.
And also it came to pass, that one evening in the beginningof February, just when the stars were beginning to twinkle,Cornelius heard on the staircase of the little turret avoice which thrilled through him.
He put his hand on his heart, and listened.
It was the sweet harmonious voice of Rosa.
Let us confess it, Cornelius was not so stupefied withsurprise, or so beyond himself with joy, as he would havebeen but for the pigeon, which, in answer to his letter, hadbrought back hope to him under her empty wing; and, knowingRosa, he expected, if the note had ever reached her, to hearof her whom he loved, and also of his three darling bulbs.
He rose, listened once more, and bent forward towards thedoor.
Yes, they were indeed the accents which had fallen sosweetly on his heart at the Hague.
The question now was, whether Rosa, who had made the journeyfrom the Hague to Loewestein, and who -- Cornelius did notunderstand how -- had succeeded even in penetrating into theprison, would also be fortunate enough in penetrating to theprisoner himself.
Whilst Cornelius, debating this point within himself, wasbuilding all sorts of castles in the air, and was strugglingbetween hope and fear, the shutter of the grating in thedoor opened, and Rosa, beaming with joy, and beautiful inher pretty national costume -- but still more beautiful fromthe grief which for the last five months had blanched hercheeks -- pressed her little face against the wire gratingof the window, saying to him, --"Oh, sir, sir! here I am!"Cornelius stretched out his arms, and, looking to heaven,uttered a cry of joy, --"Oh, Rosa, Rosa!""Hush! let us speak low: my father follows on my heels,"said the girl.
Your father?""Yes, he is in the courtyard at the bottom of the staircase,receiving the instructions of the Governor; he willpresently come up.""The instructions of the Governor?""Listen to me, I'll try to tell you all in a few words. TheStadtholder has a country-house, one league distant fromLeyden, properly speaking a kind of large dairy, and myaunt, who was his nurse, has the management of it. As soonas I received your letter, which, alas! I could not readmyself, but which your housekeeper read to me, I hastened tomy aunt; there I remained until the Prince should come tothe dairy; and when he came, I asked him as a favour toallow my father to exchange his post at the prison of theHague with the jailer of the fortress of Loewestein. ThePrince could not have suspected my object; had he known it,he would have refused my request, but as it is he grantedit.""And so you are here?""As you see.""And thus I shall see you every day?""As often as I can manage it.""Oh, Rosa, my beautiful Rosa, do you love me a little?""A little?" she said, "you make no great pretensions,Mynheer Cornelius."Cornelius tenderly stretched out his hands towards her, butthey were only able to touch each other with the tips oftheir fingers through the wire grating.
Here is my father," said she.
Rosa then abruptly drew back from the door, and ran to meetold Gryphus, who made his appearance at the top of thestaircase.