The Coffee Trader

He hurried into the parlor, where she stood looking fretful, as though Miguel might present her with a great diamond necklace she could neither refuse nor wear. The gift he did hold out was almost as precious and almost as dangerous.

“A book?” She took the octavo in her hand, ru

Miguel smiled. “Maybe I shall tutor you. I have no doubt you will make a fine student.”

He saw it then in her eyes; she was his for the asking. He could lead her down to the cellar and there, in the cramped cupboard bed, he could take his brother’s wife. No, it was a defilement to think of her as Daniel’s wife. She was her own woman, and he would think of her as such. What held him back, propriety? Did not Daniel deserve to be betrayed after the way he had taken Miguel’s money?

He was ready to reach out for her, to take her hand and lead her to the cellar. But something happened first.

“What is this?” A

“Return that to your mistress,” he said. “You forget yourself, girl.”

A

“Let me go,” Ha

“Please, senhora. Let me just take you to your room before you shame yourself.”

“Who are you to speak of shame?” she answered.

Miguel could not begin to understand this display. Why did the maid think she could speak to Ha

“What goes on here?”

Daniel looked at the two women, too close for any casual business. Ha

“What goes on here, I say?” Daniel repeated, now to Miguel. “Is she touching my wife?”

Miguel tried to think of what lies might serve best Ha

“I know these Dutch have no sense of propriety,” Daniel shouted, “but I have seen too much. I have indulged my wife with this impudent strumpet long enough, and I’ll not listen to her pleas any longer. The girl must go.”

Miguel strained to find some words to cool everyone’s tempers, but A

A

They stood there, still and silent. Ha

Here was trepidation, hot, itching trepidation of the kind Miguel had known only a few times in his life: once in Lisbon when he had been warned that the Inquisition sought him for questioning; then again in Amsterdam when he knew his investments in sugar had ruined him.

He thought of all the steps that had led to this moment: the sly glances, the secret conversations, the drinks of coffee. He had held her hand, he had spoken to her as a lover, he had given her a present. If only he could have known what there was between the girl and Ha

A

“You have nothing to say, cuckold?” she spat at him. “You are a fool, and I leave you to your own wickedness.” With that she forced her way past Daniel and out of the room.

Daniel stared at his wife, cocking his head slightly. He glanced at Miguel, who would not meet his gaze. He removed his hat and scratched his head thoughtfully. “Can anyone understand a word that slut speaks?” he asked, carefully replacing the hat. “Her Dutch is the most garbled thing I know, and it is as well for her, for the look on her face was of such impudence, I’m sure I should have struck her if I’d comprehended her rudeness.”

Miguel cast a look at Ha

“Good riddance to her. I hope,” Daniel said to Ha

“I’ll not miss her. Perhaps,” she suggested, “you will let me select the servant next time.”

Later that day Miguel received a message from Geertruid expressing concern that they had not spoken in some time and requesting a meeting as soon as possible. To find some reason for delay, Miguel wrote to his partner that he could not possibly think of meeting until after the Sabbath. His words were so jumbled as to hardly make sense, even to their author, and Miguel moved to tear up his note. Then he thought better of it, deciding he might gain something by being incoherent. Without rereading what he had written, he sent the note.

from

The Factual and Revealing Memoirs of Alonzo Alferonda

There are, of course, a hundred such homes in the Jordaan-hastily built things of three or four stories, cramped rooms, narrow windows, too little light, and too much smoke. This one is owned, as they all seem to be owned, by a pinch-faced widow who sees nothing and judges all. This particular pinch-faced widow had recently rented rooms to a young girl. There were two rooms-one more than the girl had ever paid for on her own, but then she was now being paid better than she had ever been in the past. She had new clothes and some treats too-apples and pears and dried dates.