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He had not even spoken in private to Ha
The secret: she was not the person she had always been led to believe she was; even her name had been a lie. “You are not truly Bernarda,” he told her. “You are Ha
How could she be a Jew? Was it possible that she was of the race of child-killers and well-poisoners? Surely her father had made some mistake that her husband would clarify, so she had merely nodded and tried not to think too much about it.
But how could she not think about it? Her father had kept her own name from her, and now she had to practice strange rituals, which he explained rapidly and impatiently, assuring her that her new husband would clarify any foolish questions she might be imprudent enough to ask. She never asked and it would be years before he explained. Later she heard strange stories: that only the circumcised can enter the Kingdom of Heaven (did that mean women were forever ba
Her father, on the eve of her wedding, had cared nothing for Ha
Ha
She could tell at once that the meal would go badly. A
“Learn to conduct yourself, girl,” Daniel snapped, in his nearly incomprehensible Dutch.
“Learn how to put your lips to my plump ass,” A
“What?” Daniel demanded. “What did the girl say? I can’t understand a word of her garbled accent.”
It was true enough that she spoke in the odd ma
Miguel, who Ha
“I’ve heard,” Daniel said, “that you’re to lose a great deal in the brandy trade.”
Daniel had never shown warm feelings for his brother. There had always been a rivalry between them. She knew that when they were boys their father had told them that Lienzo brothers had never gotten along, not since their great-great-grandfather had killed their great-great-great-uncle in an argument over a tavern bill. When he saw the boys playing happily together, he would remind them of this tradition. Miguel wanted only to avoid his brother whenever possible, but Daniel believed in a more aggressive approach, and he had grown even more acrimonious in recent months. Perhaps Daniel had been embarrassed by Miguel’s difficulties in trade, perhaps he regretted having loaned his brother so large a sum, and perhaps it had something to do with his friendship with Solomon Parido.
Ha
If that marriage had gone through as pla
Miguel, however, at least maintained the appearance of calm. As his brother harassed him about his brandy futures, he only took a sip of his wine and half smiled. “Reckoning day has not yet come. We’ll see how things stand then.”
“As I hear it, you’ll stand another thousand or more in debt.”
Daniel had loaned Miguel fifteen hundred guilders when his affairs soured, and while Daniel never referred to the loan directly, he knew a hundred ways to refer to it obliquely.
Miguel attempted the same half smile but said nothing more.
“And what is this I hear,” Daniel pressed on, “about the coffee trade?”
Miguel kept his smirk, but at once it seemed to turn waxy and false, as though he had tasted bitter meat and needed someplace discreet to spit it out.
“What makes you think I have an interest in the coffee trade?” he asked.
“Because when you came home last night, you woke me by clattering drunkenly around the house and muttering about coffee.”
“I have no recollection of doing so,” Miguel answered, “but I suppose that is the nature of drunken mutterings-one never recollects them.”
“What is your interest in coffee?”
“No interest. I was feeling overly wet in my humors, so I took a prescription of coffee to dry myself out. I was most likely merely marveling at its curative powers.”
“I ca
“I have no plans to do so.”
“I think you will find it a less hospitable commodity than you might imagine. After all, it is only a medicine used by a few apothecaries, prescribed by a few physicians. What advantage could you find in trading in so unwanted a thing?”
“I’m sure you’re right.”
“Trading in something no one wants can only lead to more ruin.”
Miguel set down his glass of wine too hard, and a few drops rose up to splash him in the face. “Are you deaf?” He wiped away the wine from his eye. “Are your ears in your teeth? Have you not heard that I have no interest in the coffee trade?”
“I only wish to make myself clear,” Daniel said sulkily, as he pushed his food around his plate, waiting for it to reach the same temperature as the interior of his mouth so he could eat it without difficulty.