Monsieur my brother, the last day of last month I received your letters of the 25th inst. and was very sad to hear that, despite your great diligence, you have not succeeded in getting reliable information about the lot of His Highness duke Christopher or of my brothers. In truth great injustice is done to you as well as to me, if their death is being concealed from us - if indeed the Lord God decided to let them die. I wish to assure you that this secrecy has done more harm than good to our cause and I personally have been much blamed for it, because all those who ask me about it, think that I conceal the truth from them because I feel uneasy about the future and, suspecting that this is the reason, every one talks of it as they list, and the greater number of them think that the situation is entirely hopeless because their death is kept a secret.