one o’clock
And Van Baerle , as we have seen , locked it up with his most precious bulbs , to think no more of it , after his godfather had left him ; very unlike Boxtel , who looked upon this parcel as a clever pilot does on the distant and scarcely perceptible cloud which is increasing on its way and which is fraught with a storm . Little dreaming of the jealous hatred of his neighbour , Van Baerle had proceeded step by step towards gaining the prize offered by the Horticultural Society of Haarlem . He had progressed from hazel-nut shade to that of roasted coffee , and on the very day when the frightful events took place at the Hague which we have related in the preceding chapters , we find him , about one o'clock in the day , gathering from the border the young suckers raised from tulips of the colour of roasted coffee ; and which , being expected to flower for the first time in the spring of 1675 , would undoubtedly produce the large black tulip required by the Haarlem Society . On the 20th of August , 1672 , at one o'clock , Cornelius was therefore in his dry-room , with his feet resting on the foot-bar of the table , and his elbows on the cover , looking with intense delight on three suckers which he had just detached from the mother bulb , pure , perfect , and entire , and from which was to grow that wonderful produce of horticulture which would render the name of Cornelius van Baerle for ever illustrious . `` I shall find the black tulip , '' said Cornelius to himself , whilst detaching the suckers . `` I shall obtain the hundred thousand guilders offered by the Society . I shall distribute them among the poor of Dort ; and thus the hatred which every rich man has to encounter in times of civil wars will be soothed down , and I shall be able , without fearing any harm either from Republicans or Orangists , to keep as heretofore my borders in splendid condition .