The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

visited Middelburg once.'
    'In point of fact, Doctor, I was educated in Middelburg.'
    Marinus barks a laugh. ' Nobody is "educated" in that nest of slavers.'
    'Perhaps I may raise your estimate of Zeelanders in the months ahead. I am to live in Tall House, so we are nearly neighbours.'
    'So propinquity propagates neighbourliness, does it?'
    'I--' Jacob wonders at Marinus's deliberate aggression. 'I - well--'
    'This Cymbidium koran was found in the goats' fodder: as you dither, it wilts.'
    'Mr Vorstenbosch suggested you might drain some blood . . .'
    'Medieval quackery! Phlebotomy - and the Humoral Theory on which it rests - was exploded by Hunter twenty years ago.'
    But draining blood , thinks Jacob, is every surgeon's bread . 'But . . .'
    'But but but? But but? But? But but but but but?'
    'The world is composed of people who are convinced of it.'
    'Proving the world is composed of dunderheads. Your nose looks swollen.'
    Jacob strokes the kink. 'Former Chief Snitker threw a punch and--'
    'You don't have the build for brawling.' Marinus rises, and limps towards the trapdoor with the aid of a stout stick. 'Bathe your nose in cool water, twice daily; and pick a fight with Gerritszoon presenting the con vex side, so he may hammer it flat. Good day to you, Domburger.' With a well-aimed whack of his stick, Dr Marinus knocks away the prop holding up the trapdoor.

    Back in the sun-blinding street, the indignant clerk finds himself surrounded by Interpreter Ogawa, his servant, a pair of inspectors: all four look sweaty and grim. 'Mr de Zoet,' says Ogawa, 'I wish to speak about a book you bring. It is important matter . . .'
    Jacob loses the next clause to a rush of nausea and dread.
    Vorstenbosch shan't be able to save me , he thinks: and why would he?
    '. . . and so to find such a book astonishes me greatly . . . Mr de Zoet?'
    My career is destroyed , thinks Jacob, my liberty is gone and Anna is lost . . .
    'Where,' the prisoner manages to croak, 'am I to be incarcerated?'
    Long Street is tilting up and down. The clerk shuts his eyes.
    ' "In cancer- ated "?' Ogawa mocks him. 'My poor Dutch is failing me.'
    The clerk's heart pounds like a broken pump. 'Is it human to toy with me?'
    'Toy?' Ogawa's perplexity grows. 'This is proverb, Mr de Zoet? In Mr de Zoet's chest I found book of Mr . . . Adamu Sumissu.'
    Jacob opens his eyes: Long Street is no longer tilting. 'Adam Smith?'
    ' "Adam Smith" - please excuse. The Wealth of Nations . . . You know?'
    I know it, yes , thinks Jacob, but I don't yet dare hope . 'The original English is a little difficult, so I bought the Dutch edition in Batavia.'
    Ogawa looks surprised. 'So Adam Smith is not Dutchman but Englishman?'
    'He'd not thank you, Mr Ogawa! Smith's a Scot, living in Edinburgh. But can it be The Wealth of Nations about which you speak?'
    'What other? I am rangakusha - scholar of Dutch Science. Four years ago, I borrow Wealth of Nations from Chief Hemmij. I began translation to bring,' Ogawa's lips ready themselves, ' "Theory of Political Economy" to Japan. But Lord of Satsuma offered Chief Hemmij much money so I returned it. Book was sold before I finish.'
    The incandescent sun is caged by a glowing bay tree.
    God called unto him , thinks Jacob, out of the midst of the bush . . .
    Hooked gulls and scraggy kites criss-cross the blue-glazed sky.
    . . . and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
    'I try to obtain another, but' - Ogawa flinches - 'but difficulties is much.'
    Jacob resists an impulse to laugh like a child. 'I understand.'
    'Then, this morning, in your book-chest, Adam Smith I find . Very much surprise, and to speak with sincerity, Mr de Zoet, I wish to buy or rent . . .'
    Across the street in the garden, cicadas shriek in ratcheted rounds.
    'Adam Smith is neither for sale nor rent,' says the Dutchman, 'but you are welcome, Mr Ogawa - very welcome indeed - to borrow him for as long as ever you wish.'

IV
    Outside the Privy by Garden House on Dejima

    Before breakfast