In the evening, Gryphus took away the breakfast and dinner of Cornelius, who had scarcely touched them.
On the following day he did not touch them at all, and Gryphus carried the dishes away just as he had brought them.
Cornelius had remained in bed the whole day.
“Well,” said Gryphus, coming down from the last visit, “I think we shall soon get rid of our scholar.”
Rosa was startled.
“Nonsense!” said Jacob. “What do you mean?”
“He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t eat, he doesn’t leave his bed. He will get out of it, like Mynheer Grotius, in a chest, only the chest will be a coffin.”
Rosa grew pale as death.
“Ah!” she said to herself, “he is uneasy about his tulip.”
And, rising with a heavy heart, she returned to her chamber, where she took a pen and paper, and during the whole of that night busied herself with tracing letters.