On board the Maris Stella, Freiburg,
7th day of Primus 1669.
Dear Señor Ferdinand de la Reina del Mar,
I hope the new year shall be better for you than the
last few months seem to have been. I pray Theus and San Gregor will
keep you in their protection. I confess that I look upon this new
year with foreboding, and with the feeling that I too may have to call
on your holy patron’s benevolence before it is over.
I regret that I could not tarry long enough to look
you up in Freiburg. Unfortunately, I have pressing business inland
which could not suffer any delays. I hope to be back in perhaps two
weeks, at which point I sincerely hope I may have the honour of meeting
you again. Perhaps by then you may be able to tell me of happier
tidings, and we may see a way to serve Castille as we have discussed before.
Until then, I sincerely hope that your recent troubles
will be resolved, and that my cousin don Lucas will relent in his decision
not to allow you at the mansion Drachenheim anymore,
Very Sincerely,
Doña Constanza Aldana y Orduño
Capt., HMLM Maris Stella
