“Compare me to the black tulip, and I promise you I shall feel very much flattered. Good night, then, till we meet again, Mynheer Cornelius.”
“Oh, say ‘Good night, my friend.’”
“Good night, my friend,” said Rosa, a little consoled.
“Say, ‘My very dear friend.’”
“Oh, my friend—”
“Very dear friend, I entreat you, say ‘very dear,’ Rosa, very dear.”
“Very dear, yes, very dear,” said Rosa, with a beating heart, beyond herself with happiness.
“And now that you have said ‘very dear,’ dear Rosa, say also ‘most happy’: say ‘happier and more blessed than ever man was under the sun.’ I only lack one thing, Rosa.”
“And that is?”
“Your cheek,—your fresh cheek, your soft, rosy cheek. Oh, Rosa, give it me of your own free will, and not by chance. Ah!”