It was midnight, when suddenly the balsamic odours of the large-blossomed thistle spread through the whole garden.
Peregrine awoke from sleep. He fancied that he heard the plaintive melody of hopeless desire, and a strange foreboding got possession of him. It seemed to him as if a friend were violently torn from him.
The next morning the second bridal pair was missing, namely, George Pepusch and Dörtje Elverdink; what added not a little to the general astonishment was, that they had not at all entered the bridal chamber.
In this moment of doubt, the gardener came and exclaimed, "He did not know what to think of it, but a strange wonder had happened in the garden. Throughout the whole night he had dreamt of the blooming Cactus grandiflorus, and not till now discovered the cause of it.--They should only come and see!"--
Peregrine and Rose went into the garden. In the middle of a clump of flowers a lofty thistle had shot up, which drooped its withering blossom beneath the morning sun; about this a variegated tulip wound itself, and that also had died a vegetable death.
"Oh, my foreboding!" cried Peregrine, while his voice trembled with sadness. "Oh, my foreboding! it has not deceived me. The beams of the carbuncle, which have kindled me to the highest life, have given death to thee, thou sweet pair, united by the strange discords of opposing powers. The mystery is revealed; the highest moment of gratified desire was also the moment of thy death."
Rose too seemed to have a foreboding of the wonder; she bent over the poor perished tulip, and shed a stream of tears.
"You are quite right," said Master Flea, who suddenly appeared in his microscopic form on the top of the thistle--"you are quite right, my dear Mr. Peregrine. It is all as you have said, and I have lost my beloved for ever."
Rose was at first somewhat frightened at the little creature, but seeing that he gazed on her with such friendly, intelligent eyes, and Peregrine spoke so familiarly with him, she took heart, looked boldly on his graceful tiny form, and gained so much the more confidence in him as Peregrine whispered to her, "this is my kind Master Flea."
"My good Peregrine," said Master Flea very tenderly,--"my dear lady, I must now leave you, and return to my people; yet I shall always be your devoted friend, and you shall constantly experience my presence in a way that will be agreeable to you. Farewell! heartily farewell to both of you. And all good fortune be with you."