Saying this he looked anxiously at Rosa, eagerly waiting forher answer.

"Young? handsome?" cried Rosa, bursting into a laugh. "He ishideous to look at; crooked, nearly fifty years of age, andnever dares to look me in the face, or to speak, except inan undertone."

"And his name?"

"Jacob Gisels."

"I don't know him."

"Then you see that, at all events, he does not come afteryou."

"At any rate, if he loves you, Rosa, which is quite likely,as to see you is to love you, at least you don't love him."

"To be sure I don't."

"Then you wish me to keep my mind easy?"

"I should certainly ask you to do so."

"Well, then, now as you begin to know how to read you willread all that I write to you of the pangs of jealousy and ofabsence, won't you, Rosa?"

"I shall read it, if you write with good huge letters."

Then, as the turn which the conversation took began to makeRosa uneasy, she asked, --

"By the bye, how is your tulip going on?"