Nothing came of this secret embassy, for Egmont’s heart and fate were already fixed.  Before Orange departed, however; for the north, where his presence in the Dutch provinces was now imperatively required, a memorable interview took place at Dendermonde between Orange, Horn, Egmont, Hoogstraaten, and Count Louis.  The nature of this conference was probably similar to that of the secret mission from Orange to Egmont just recorded.  It was not a long consultation.  The gentlemen met at eleven o’clock, and conversed until dinner was ready, which was between twelve and one in the afternoon.  They discussed the contents of a letter recently received by Horn from his brother Montigny at Segovia, giving a lively picture of Philip’s fury at the recent events in the Netherlands, and expressing the Baron’s own astonishment and indignation that it had been impossible for the seigniors to prevent such outrages as the public preaching, the image-breaking and the Accord.  They had also some conversation concerning the dissatisfaction manifested by the Duchess at the proceedings of Count Horn at Tournay, and they read a very remarkable letter which had been furnished them, as having been written by the Spanish envoy in Paris, Don Francis of Alava, to Margaret of Parma.  This letter was forged.  At least the Regent, in her Italian correspondence, asserted it to be fictitious, and in those secret letters to Philip she usually told the truth.  The astuteness of William of Orange had in this instance been deceived.  The striking fidelity, however, with which the present and future policy of the government was sketched, the accuracy with which many unborn events were foreshadowed, together with the minute touches which gave an air of genuineness to the fictitious despatch, might well deceive even so sagacious an observer as the Prince.

The letters alluded to the deep and long-settled hostility of Philip to Orange, Horn, and Egmont, as to a fact entirely within the writer’s knowledge, and that of his correspondent, but urged upon the Duchess the assumption of an extraordinary degree of apparent cordiality in her intercourse with them.  It was the King’s intention to use them and to destroy them, said the writer, and it was the Regent’s duty to second the design.  “The tumults and troubles have not been without their secret concurrence,” said the supposititious Alava, “and your Highness may rest assured that they will be the first upon whom his Majesty will seize, not to confer benefits, but to chastise them as they deserve.  Your Highness, however, should show no symptom of displeasure, but should constantly maintain in their minds the idea that his Majesty considers them as the most faithful of his servants.  While they are persuaded of this, they can be more easily used, but when the time comes, they will be treated in another manner.  Your Highness may rest assured that his Majesty is not less inclined than your Highness that they should receive the punishment which they merit.”  The Duchess