The Coffee Trader

Miguel goes to a tavern to find Geertruid. Crispijn says he doesn’t know where she is and that she is not his cousin. Miguel goes to a bookseller and buys a Portuguese book of holy law for Hannah, thinking she might learn to read some day.

At another tavern, Miguel listens as some men try to trick a stockholder with a false rumor of a ship taken by pirates. Hendrick, who is seated at another table, stands up and exposes the tricksters. Miguel recognizes this as the exact scenario that occurred the day he met Geertruid. He now knows that “their friendship was a sham and everything had been false” (296). Convinced that her story about getting money from her stepchildren’s trust is also a lie, he concludes that she must be working for Parido.

Joachim shows up at Miguel’s home dressed in new clothes. He proposes a deal: Miguel can pay him his money on an installment plan, as long as he tells Joachim how he plans to make his money. Miguel is certain that Joachim is working for Parido, so he will only tell him that there are “other Jews of importance involved in this business and in order to protect ourselves we have all taken vows of silence” (302).