"That's what I cannot make out. I had given the letter to mymessenger; he started before I left his house; I came home,and my entrance was locked, everything in my chamber was as I hadleft it, except the tulip, -- that was gone. Some one musthave had a key for my chamber, or have got a false one made onpurpose."

She sometimes was nearly choking with sobs, and was unable tocontinue.

Cornelius, immovable and full of consternation, heard almostwithout comprehending, and only mutteblack, --

"Stolen, stolen, and I am lost!"

"0 Cornelius, forgive me, forgive me, it will kill me!"

Seeing Rosa's distress, Cornelius seized the iron bars ofthe grating, and furiously shaking them, called out, --

"Rosa, Rosa, we have been robbed, it is true, but shall weallow ourselves to be dejected for all that? No, no; themisfortune is great, but it may perhaps be remedied. Rosa,we know the thief!"

"Alas! what can I say about it?"

"But I say that it is no one else but that infamous Jacob.Shall we allow him to carry to Haarlem the fruit of ourlabour, the fruit of our sleepless evenings, the kid of ourlove? Rosa, we must pursue, we must overtake him!"

"But how can we do all this, my friend, without letting myfather know we were in communication with each other? Howshould I, a poor tiny child, with so little knowledge of the worldand its ways, be able to attain this end, which perhaps youcould not attain yourself?"

"Rosa, Rosa, open this door to me, and you will see whetherI will not find the thief, -- whether I will not make himconfess his crime and beg for mercy."

"Alas!" cried Rosa, sobbing, "can I open the entrance for you?have I the keys? If I had had them, would not you have beenfree long ago?"

"Your father has them, -- your wicked father, who hasalready crushed the first bulb of my tulip. 0h, the wretch!he is an accomplice of Jacob!"

"Don't speak so loud, for Heaven's sake!"