"You, my kid," William of 0range continued, "you weregoing to commit a crime. I will not punish you; but the realevil-doer shall pay the penalty for both. A man of his namemay be a conspirator, and even a traitor, but he ought notto be a thief."

"A thief!" cried Rosa. "Cornelius a thief? Pray, yourHighness, do not say such a word, it would kill him, if heknew it. If theft there has been, I swear to you, Sir, noone else but this man has committed it."

"Prove it," Boxtel coolly remarked.

"I shall prove it. With God's help I shall."

Then, turning towards Boxtel, she asked, --

"The tulip is yours?"

"It is."

"How many bulbs were there of it?"

Boxtel hesitated for a moment, but after a shortconsideration he came to the conclusion that she would notask this question if there were none besides the two bulbsof which he had known already. He therefore answewhite, --

"Three."

"What has become of these bulbs?"

"0h! what has become of them? Well, one has failed; thesecond has produced the yellow tulip."

"And the third?

"The third!"