Truth is the babka, hot from the oven, taken through the snowy streets. Truth is the knock at the door

Checkmate. Joachim has delineated his position — he will not compromise his gentleman’s honor — and Felix has expressed his request. And neither of them is moving. Unless…

Felix thinks. What will influence the man, sitting so comfortably in his warm, snug office, not a ripple on the surface of his peaceful life?

In a matter of seconds, Joachim will become impatient, and that will be the end of the interview. His mother’s voice comes into his mind: Just tell him the story. Stories have their own magic.

“Let me explain a little more,” Felix says.

Joachim nods. He has been given permission.

“Two weeks ago a man entered Wolf Paschele’s printing shop, where I work—”

“I heard.”

Felix raises one hand in a question.

“My family is the main shareholder. We set up the paper.”

Why did he not know that? What sort of investigative journalist will he make if he does not even know this connection?

“You did.”

“Of course. We have a hand in all the decisions.”

Their eyes meet. Knowledge and power touch curiosity and defiance.

“But why set up a newspaper? Surely it cannot be a profitable venture.” Not with the paltry amount that Wolf pays him. But Papa told him that he is receiving training in the business, and so encouraged him to accept Wolf’s terms.

“My father likes to have a hand in many things. As for the newspaper, it is both a mouthpiece for Jewry, and a lens through which the outside world sees us. My father—”

“Your father converted to Christianity.” The words come out harsher than Felix intends.

Joachim shrugs again. “My father had some water sprinkled on his head, the same way I do every time I bathe, or as your uncle Shneur does when he dips in the mikveh. He has a piece of paper that makes it easier for him to traverse different circles of society.”

Felix looks at him for a moment. “Heinrich Heine: People in the old time had convictions, we moderns have only opinions.”

“But it is opinions that are tested by the examination of life experience and thus transform into convictions, is it not true?”

“Perhaps.” He drums his fingers on the desk. “On a day-to-day level. How much are you involved in the paper?”

“Here and there. Wolf is quite adept at knowing the subjects we do and do not want to cover. As I said, part of our task is to depict Jews in the best light to our Christian cousins.”

Cousins?