"God in Heaven!" The tsaddik ltshak Mattes was once again impressed. "How can he have heard of me if 1 don't know him at all?"
"Your work is known in Amsterdam. Your cutting is much known and admired."
"Do you hear, Temerl?" Itshak, proud. "And I thought that the joy of my work was shared only by the diamond and myself in the moment that I release the fire within the stone by cutting it."
"I've always admired," said Baruch humbly, "the ability to find fire inside the ice of a diamond." In a lower voice, that made some of them shiver, he added, "the Lord has not granted me that gift."
There was a silence which each of them filled by giving private thanks to Elohim.
(Well, he has the hands of a diamond cutter, delicate, noble, with well-trimmed nails. How beautiful.)
Baruch went on after the devout silence. "He gave me three thousand Dutch florins, a horse, the advice that 1 take advantage of the voyage to meet and appreciate new people, places and languages, and the strict order to go east as far as Lodz, where he was sure 1 could stay for some time, protected by the hospitality of Master ltshak, before returning.
(May he never leave, may he never leave.)
ltshak Mattes stroked his beard, worried, and looked at Temerl, who said Yes with her eyes. He signaled his approval of the newcomer's petition.
"I left Amsterdam at the beginning of winter on a day that was sunny but bitterly cold. The ground was not snow-covered, but a freezing wind from the east, perhaps from where you are, kept Lambertus from making headway. In Utrecht, too like Amsterdam, 1 spent only one night, aware of my master's advice to learn about new people and countries and languages. My stay in Munster was slightly longer; they talk as we do but as if their mouths were full of straw, they're quieter and they're obsessed with…"
"They're papists in Munster." The icy voice of Chaim, the future rabbi, for the first time all evening.
"Yes, and 1 have to confess to having suffered some rejection for being one of the children of Israel. Munster was the first foreign city in which 1 had set foot in my twenty-three years of life."
(Twenty-three. And 1 am fifteen and my mother is already worrying.)
"1 carried out some errands for the master and then, free of obligations, 1 shut myself up in a room in the inn to observe the Sabbath as best 1 could and to think about where I wanted the horse to take me the following day, all praise to
A murmur of approval followed Baruch's last words. Only young Chaim, the devout, remained silent.
Elohim."
Baruch bolted the door and returned to the circle of light on the table. With nervous fingers, and aided by the stiletto that he used in the workshop to cut woolen cloth into pouches for the diamonds, he delicately began to undo the package. When he had it unwrapped, his mouth fell open. In the package there was a roll of canvas and two fat envelopes that, to the touch, contained only paper. Frantically, he unrolled the canvas, fingered the envelopes more carefully, and found the black bag of diamonds nowhere. There was no black bag with two diamonds inside. Damned be the mother of that bastard Maarten Sorgh; he sends me to Istanbul to return two diamonds as big as chickpeas and he doesn't put them in the package. Where are Buzi and Ezequiel? What is going on here?
Baruch, disoriented, looked out the window. Winter was dealing harshly with that part of Westphalia and the afternoon rain was just turning into snow that fell silently, covering all of Munster with a white carpet. He could barely make out the grim cages of the Anabaptists hanging from the tower of the church of St. Lambert.
He rolled the canvas back up, now examining it carefully. The bastard Maarten Sorgh was sending to his son in Istanbul the painting that had created such a stir last spring. Baruch set it aside and concentrated on the envelopes. One of them was blank and the other carried the name of the recipient, Jan Maartenszoon Sorgh, and the address in Galata, Istanbul. He brought this envelope close to the candle and spent a long time thinking about what his next step should be. After a while, he violated the seal with the stiletto. inside, a thick fold of pages, all covered with dense writing. And no diamond camouflaged among the papers. Baruch began to read avidly to see if he could find the solution to the enigma. After the conventional introduction in which the miserable wretch Maarten Sorgh gave thanks to Elohim for all of his gifts, he asked his beloved son how things were in Istanbul and added that he was sending this letter via a special courier and by land because he wanted to prevent the information 1 am sending you, dear son, from being intercepted by the inspectors in the Ottoman ports, who, according to information provided by the Company to all those of us who have dealings with Turkey, are always on the lookout for secret information from our dealers. In the other envelope you have a complete list of suppliers, clients and owners of gems from Egypt to Bulgaria, and as far north as the kingdom of Poland and the Baltic Sea. 1 cannot make use of it because 1 no longer have the energy to travel and these places are far from Amsterdam. But it could be valuable to you and help you to prosper. Use it prudently and let no one know of its existence. 1 have spent many years and a great deal of money collecting this information, and 1 want no one to profit by it but you. He who first knows the location of the river can become the owner of the water, says a Gentile proverb. Treat the list, son, as a precious good and make wise use of it.
I want you to know as well that a year ago, just as you were leaving Venice and starting out in Istanbul, the Imperial Diamond came into my hands. It comes from Dekkhan, was as big as a river stone and weighed 221 carats. The problem was that it was very irregular, too irregular, but 1 have never seen a diamond so transparent. I studied it for some weeks, but could not see its possibilities. My sight, son, is not what it once was. 1 showed it to Baruch Anslo, the carrier of this missive, who is an extraordinary cutter. He examined it and concluded that two stones could be made from it, in the form of brilliants. The Ottoman ambassador agreed, and Anslo split the Imperial. He got from it, as he had predicted, two stones of nearly a hundred carats and a few smaller stones. He did a magnificent job of cutting. The result was two magnificent brilliants; the smaller weighs ninety-six carats and is called Ezekiel, like the prophet, and the larger is one hundred seven and is named Buzi, after the prophet's father. They are a wonder: they bend the light of the sun in a thousand directions. When you receive them, via official maritime channels, return them in person on my behalf to the Sublime Portal. I have already been paid for my work, but do not reject an honorarium for your part in this, which will surely bring you fame and renown in Istanbul and beyond.
The carrier of this letter, Baruch Anslo, is a good cutter, as I have said. If he arrives at his destination, make use of him for a time, if you wish, but above all, do not trust him, for he has a beguiling way with words. Nor should you be deceived by his youthful appearance. He turned thirty this fall. He is twice as covetous, rapacious and cunning as he is good at cutting, which is why 1 did not trust the diamonds to him and decided to make him a target for possible thieves, as 1 hid from no one that Anslo would be the carrier of the diamonds. Moreover, he was beginning to look too insistently at your niece Rachel. If you have no interest in him, simply send him away.
Baruch Anslo left the half-read letter on the table. He had always considered himself cunning, but Maarten Sorgh had far outplayed him. Out loud he said, Filthy old bag of rat shit, may you hang forever on a Zeeland dune, the Lord be praised, and felt better. Then he continued reading the letter.