Chapter Nine Summary

Summer has come to Japan. Rodrigues spends his days confined to a room where he can do nothing but look out on the free moving Japanese. Many of them still taunt him and children throw stones at his window. The priest is not allowed to leave his cell unless given permission by the magistrate. Rodrigues works now for Inoue classifying strange objects brought by foreigners from Macao. Rodrigues must tell the magistrate whether the items are Christian or not.

The brief visits to the magistrate's office bring him in contact with Ferreira and the interpreter. The interpreter conducts himself as if nothing unsavory had ever passed between them. The man smiles and talks to Rodrigues as though they are colleagues, exchanging idle gossip. Ferreira can barely look at Rodrigues, as Rodrigues feels disdain and disgust for his former teacher. However, he...