"Nothing to your hurt, worthy Heer, believe me, nothing to your hurt.
Oh! yes, I know that tales are told against me, who only earn an honest
living in an honest way, to keep my poor husband, who is an imbecile.
Once alas! he followed that mad Anabaptist fool, John of Leyden, the
fellow who set up as a king, and said that men might have as many wives
as they wished. That was what sent my husband silly, but, thanks be
to the Saints, he has repented of his errors and is reconciled to the
Church and Christian marriage, and now, I, who have a forgiving nature,
am obliged to support him."

"Your business?" said Brant.

"Mynheer," she answered, dropping her husky voice, "you are a friend of
the Countess Montalvo, she who was Lysbeth van Hout?"

"No, I am acquainted with her, that is all."

"At least you are a friend of the Heer Dirk van Goorl who has left this
town for Alkmaar; he who was her lover?"

"Yes, I am his cousin, but he is not the lover of any married woman."

"No, no, of course not; love cannot look through a bridal veil, can it?
Still, you are his friend, and, therefore, perhaps, her friend, and--she
isn't happy."

"Indeed? I know nothing of her present life: she must reap the field
which she has sown. That door is shut."

"Not altogether perhaps. I thought it might interest Dirk van Goorl to
learn that it is still ajar."

"I don't see why it should. Fish merchants are not interested in rotten
herrings; they write off the loss and send out the smack for a fresh
cargo."

"The first fish we catch is ever the finest, Mynheer, and if we haven't
quite caught it, oh! what a fine fish is that."

"I have no time to waste in chopping riddles. What is your errand? Tell
it, or leave it untold, but be quick."

Black Meg leant forward, and the hoarse voice sank to a cavernous
whisper.

"What will you give me," she asked, "if I prove to you that the Captain
Montalvo is not married at all to Lysbeth van Hout?"

"It does not much matter what I would give you, for I saw the thing done
in the Groote Kerk yonder."

"Things are not always done that seem to be done."

"Look here, woman, I have had enough of this," and Brant pointed to the
door.

Black Meg did not stir, only she produced a packet from the bosom of her
dress and laid it on the table.

"A man can't have two wives living at once, can he?"

"No, I suppose not--that is, legally."

"Well, if I show you that Montalvo has two wives, how much?"

Bra