Chapters 8-11 Summary

In August of 1861, Baldabiou and Hervé Joncour talk in the Café Verdun, long after the owner is ready to close. Baldabiou insists to Joncour that they must seek silkworms in Japan if they hope to find healthy ones. Joncour asks where Japan is and Baldabiou says at the end of the world.

Baldabiou has heard rumors that Japan is producing the finest silk in the world, even though no European silk manufacturers have heard of Japan. He wants Joncour to smuggle silkworm eggs out of the country against Japanese laws. Although the men of Lavilledieu are in great respect of local law, Baldabiou and Joncour have no qualms about breaking the laws of a nation far away. Joncour leaves on October 6, 1861 on a purchasing mission financed by all the local silk manufacturers. He tells his wife Hélène not to...