The Coffee Trader

Daniel hears about Hannah’s encounter with Joachim and confronts Miguel about it. Miguel tells him “it does not concern you” (190), which angers Daniel, and they argue. When Miguel says the Ma’amad’s policies are old-fashioned, Daniel answers, “You mustn’t criticize the council. Without its guidance, this community would be lost” (191).

Next, Daniel says he wants 1,000 of the 1,500 guilders Miguel owes him in his account by tomorrow. Miguel says this is impossible because Ricardo hasn’t paid him yet. Daniel insists that Miguel has more than 2,000 guilders in his account, and Miguel wonders how he knows about Geertruid’s money. Daniel says he must transfer the money or live somewhere else, and Miguel “seriously considered murdering his brother” (194). Suddenly, Daniel proposes an alternative: He will cease demanding the money if Miguel will give him information about the coffee deal and the opportunity to invest in it.

Believing that revealing his plan to Daniel would lead to its failure, Miguel decides to pay Daniel his 1,000 guilders. Now only 1,000 of Geertruid’s 3,000 guilders remain in his account.

In his “Factual and Revealing Memoirs,” Alferonda recounts a story from his childhood. Miguel was older, but Alferonda had been friends with Daniel. Daniel was not as strong as the other boys, “but he was much faster” (196). He was also his father’s favored son. One day Daniel led Alferonda and the other boys to a closet in his house where he knew Miguel had taken a servant girl. Daniel flung open the door, and the servant girl, half undressed, burst into tears. Angry, Miguel told Daniel, “You may tease a man, but only a coward teases a young woman” (197). The other boys raced down the stairs, but Daniel stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the servant as she cried.

Alferonda says this story explains the animosity between the brothers. Then he reveals that Ricardo’s whale oil client is actually Daniel: “Far from being in debt to his brother, Miguel was his creditor and never suspected it” (198).

Letters from agents willing to work in Miguel’s coffee business continue to arrive. Miguel wants to tell Geertruid the good news and discuss their business further, but he can’t find her. He asks Hendrick where she is, but Hendrick says he doesn’t know. Miguel looks for her at the coffee tavern, but the owner turns him away, saying, “This is not the time for you” (200).

Annetje asks Hannah to go to church again, but Hannah refuses, not wishing to endanger her unborn child. Annetje again warns Hannah to keep her silence about seeing Geertruid with the men outside the Weight House. Hannah promises, but “as she said the words, she knew she lied and felt a strange new pleasure in how easily the lie came” (203).

One week later, Miguel sits in a tavern with Hendrick and Geertruid. Suddenly a man comes from behind Hendrick and hits him in the shoulder. Hendrick stands up and punches him hard enough to knock him down. The man is dragged away, and Hendrick leaves the tavern.

Miguel asks Geertruid where she has been, and she says she was visiting relatives in the country. Miguel tells her that he still doesn’t have agents for the Iberian Peninsula. Unhappy, Geertruid says, “I want the problem solved, and if it cannot be solved, I want to know that I can trust you to tell me so” (207). Miguel proposes that they cancel the deal in two weeks if he hasn’t found the agents by then. Geertruid agrees.

Miguel goes to another tavern where he meets Nunes. Miguel mentions the possibility of cancelling the sale, but Nunes says “it is far too late to back out” (208). Nunes demands half of his payment by the end of next week.

When Miguel arrives home, Daniel has a letter for him. It is from the Ma’amad, ordering Miguel to appear before the council the next morning.

To prepare his defense, Miguel knows he must discover why he has been summoned before the council. Thinking that Geertruid may have told someone about their coffee deal, he goes in search of her. He finds her at a banquet hall, drunk, attending a feast of the Brewer’s Guild. She swears she has spoken to no one about the coffee business.

Miguel demands to know the source of her money. She says that her late husband made her the guardian of his first wife’s children’s estates. It is her responsibility to invest the money wisely to secure their futures. However, she has been spending some of the money in dealings of her own, as the eldest does not come of age for another three years, “so I have time to set things right” (215). Miguel is troubled by the thought of building a business on stolen money, but his immediate concern is his meeting with the Ma’amad. Assuming that Joachim must have complained to the council about him, Miguel searches for him.

Miguel goes to the worst part of the city to find Joachim. He finds a pie seller whom he recognizes as Clara, Joachim’s wife. Miguel gives her five guilders and asks where her husband is. Clara says that because he was drunk and refusing to work, he was sent to the Rasphuis, “that place of cruel discipline from which few emerged and none emerged unbroken” (219). Miguel says he must go there to speak with Joachim, and Clara realizes that Miguel is “the man who ruined my husband” (220). Clara seems attracted to Miguel, and they flirt a while before he leaves.

Arriving at the Rasphuis, Miguel bribes the guard to let him inside. He finds Joachim and demands to know what he told the Ma’amad. Joachim responds that “if you can get me from this prison, I’ll tell you all I know” (224). Outside the prison, Joachim admits that he spoke with the Ma’amad. He tells Miguel he is grateful for his release and runs away. Miguel decides that Parido must be responsible for the Ma’amad’s summons.