"Where are you going lad?" the elder of the two men asked.
"I am going, worshipful sir, to see some friends who live at the village of Deligen, near Brussels."
"These are evil times for travelling. Your tongue shows that you come not from Brabant."
"No, sir, my relations lived at Vordwyk, hard by Amsterdam."
"Amsterdam is a faithful city; although there, as elsewhere, there are men who are traitors to their king and false to their faith. You are not one of them, I hope?"
"I do not know," Ned said, "that I am bound to answer questions of any that ride by the highway, unless I know that they have right and authority to question me."
"I have right and authority," the man said angrily. "My name is Philip Von Aert, and I am one of the council charged by the viceroy to investigate into these matters."
Ned again doffed his hat. "I know your name, worshipful sir, as that of one who is foremost in searching out heretics. There are few in the land, even ignorant country boys like myself, who have not heard it."
The councillor looked gratified. "Ah! you have heard me well spoken of?" he said.
"I have heard you spoken of, sir, well or ill, according to the sentiments of those who spoke."