It was, or purported to be, written by the priest of the village where the lady lived, and was addressed to the Captain the Count Juan de Montalvo at Leyden.

In substance this epistle was an earnest appeal to the noble count from one who had a right to speak, as the man who had christened him, taught him, and married him to his wife, either to return to her or to forward her the means to join him.

"A dreadful rumour," the letter ended, "has reached us here in Spain that you have taken to wife a Dutch lady at Leyden named Van Hout, but this I do not believe, since never could you have committed such a crime before God and man.

Write, write at once, my son, and disperse this black cloud of scandal which is gathering on your honoured and ancient name." "How did you come by these, woman ?" asked Brant.
"The last I had from a priest who brought it from Spain.

I met him at The Hague, and offered to deliver the letter, as he had no safe means of sending it to Leyden.