“What will this combination be doing?”
“I can’t tell you that-not without breaking a vow I made to the others. Please understand that no matter how much you may make your case, I can’t give you those details.”
“I must have some information.” Joachim was nearly pleading. “Surely you can see that.”
For the first time, Miguel began to wonder if Joachim was Parido’s servant or his slave. He appeared to be genuinely afraid of leaving without information for his master. With what could Parido have threatened Joachim?
“Without betraying confidences, I can tell you there’s a great deal of money to be made. You no longer follow the affairs of the Exchange, so I will confide in you if you promise not to repeat it to another soul. Do you solemnly promise, Joachim?”
Inexplicably, Joachim hesitated and swallowed in discomfort. “I promise,” he said.
“Do you swear by your own Jesus Christ?” Miguel asked, twisting the knife.
“I don’t make such oaths lightly,” Joachim said. “Despite all that has happened, I hope I shall do nothing blasphemous.”
“I ask nothing blasphemous,” Miguel explained with a broad smile. “Only to swear a holy oath to do what you have already promised to do. I suppose you could break your word. Any man who would threaten to take another’s life, surely among the most serious of sins, could break a vow made to his God. But if you make the vow, it will offer me some small comfort.”
“Very well,” Joachim said, examining the light that filtered in through one of the small windows. “I swear by Jesus Christ not to repeat what you tell me.”
Miguel smiled. “What more could I ask for? Know then that with this scheme we plan to make a great deal of money, an amount so large that the five hundred you ask for will seem as nothing. Men will talk about it ten years hence. It will be the very model to which young upstarts on the Exchange aspire.”
Joachim’s eyes widened. He straightened himself in his stool. “Can you say no more? Can you not tell me if you deal in a particular commodity or route or stock scheme?”
“I can’t answer that question without violating my own vows,” Miguel lied. “There are other Jews of importance involved in this business, and in order to protect ourselves we have all taken vows of silence.”
“Other Jews of importance?” Joachim asked. He had been in Parido’s service long enough, apparently, to know when he had hit upon something of note.
“Yes,” Miguel told him. His little deception was so sinister he could hardly contain his pleasure. “I have thrown my lot in with several members of the community of the highest standing. That’s why I never feared your bringing our history to the Ma’amad; I only wished to avoid being embarrassed before my partners. I have an enemy on that board, but I also have very powerful friends.” He paused to lean forward and assume the hunched pose of a teller of secrets. “You see, one of the members of the council is part of my combination, and another has invested heavily in our enterprise.”
Joachim nodded and appeared to visibly relax. It would seem that he now had enough information to return to his master and not fear his dissatisfaction. He had the glimmering jewel he had sought.
“Does that satisfy your curiosity, Joachim?”
“For now,” Joachim said. “Though I believe I may have more questions later.”
“When you think of them, you mean.”
“Yes, I might think of more.”
“You always were a curious fellow. I suppose there’s nothing to be done about that.”
Miguel ushered him up the stairs and saw him out the kitchen door. When he closed it, he barked out a laugh. Miguel need no longer fear the Ma’amad. Surely Parido would never agree now to have Miguel questioned. He had too much to lose.
28
One week later, Miguel received a note from Geertruid. She had returned from her trip, all was well, and she wished to meet later that day at the Singing Carp.
When he arrived, Miguel thought she looked uncommonly beautiful in a gown of bright red with a blue bodice and a matching blue-trimmed red cap. Her lips were deep red, as though she had been biting them.
“It’s good to be back,” she said, kissing him on his cheek. “My ailing aunt in Friesland has made a complete recovery-so complete I wonder if she was ever truly sick at all. And now”-she took Miguel’s hand-“tell me what news, my handsome partner.”
Miguel wished he could have doubted his own eyes, but he had seen what he had seen. Geertruid had tricked Miguel into their friendship, and Miguel still did not know why.
“I’m happy your aunt is well.”
Miguel had spent some time thinking about this problem, and he had come to a comforting conclusion: if Geertruid worked for Parido, she would provide any reasonable amount he asked for; otherwise whatever scheme the parnass hatched would fail. Miguel would get the money he needed to cover his own investments, and then he would show Parido how foolish it was to attempt to outwit a man who was well read in the stories of Charming Pieter. But after days of thought, he was still unsure how to make his request.
“Well, then,” Geertruid said. She took a long drink of beer. “Any news of our shipment? Any news upon the Exchange? I am feverish with the desire to press forward.”
“There has been some news,” Miguel began, “though not as good as I would like. You must understand that these arrangements almost never happen as smoothly as planned, and as a merchant runs along, he must always do his best to avoid hidden dangers.”
Geertruid licked her lips. “Hidden dangers?”
“You see, the price of a commodity is subject to any of a variety of changes over a period of time. No one can truly predict its movements-that is, unless one has a monopoly, as we plan to do-though we do not have one yet.”
“The price of coffee has risen?” she asked flatly.
“It has, and somewhat more than I could have predicted. Then there is the matter of the shipping costs, which have turned out to be significantly more than I had been led to believe. And secrecy-that costs money too. A palm greased here and a palm greased there-a man looks down and his purse is empty.”
“I begin to suspect where this conversation is taking me.”
“I thought you might. You see, I think we must have more money to make this thing certain. For just a little bit more, we can remove any element of doubt.”
“A little bit more?”
“Fifteen hundred guilders,” he told her breezily, though when he saw the look on her face he realized he might have been too ambitious. “Although a thousand might do our business.”
“You must think me a far greater woman than I am,” she said. “I told you how difficult it was to raise the three thousand. Now you casually ask me for half again as much.”
“Is this money to gratify my own needs, madam? No, it is to assure our wealth. You asked me to work with you because you trusted that I knew how to order matters of business. I do know how, and I tell you we need this money if we want to depend on victory.”
Miguel had expected her to be sulky and chastising but also amused. Instead, she glared at him in anger. “When we began I asked you how much you required, and you told me three thousand guilders. I committed that money to you. If you had told me forty-five hundred, I would have said the thing could not be done. Will not the three thousand I gave you carry this? Is the money lost?”
“Not lost,” he told her hurriedly, “I promise you that. The worst danger we face is that we make not so much as we wished, and that you return your investment whence you got it. I only thought that if more money was to be had, it would serve us well.”
“More money is not to be had,” Geertruid said, “and I need you to speak truthfully to me. I know the truth comes hard to a man who has been a Secret Jew.”
“That is unkind,” Miguel protested.