This lapse of D. John did not last long; for in the middle of December Fr. Miguel Servia writes thus in his diary:

"At this time Christmas approached, and His Highness retired the Monday before to a monastery outside Naples, of Norbertinian monks, called Pie de Grutta, and the day before the Vigil he sent a gentleman to the Duque (de Sesa) to order him to give notice that he was going to confession. The next day, which was the Vigil, we went, Fr. Fee and I. He received us very graciously, and ordered a room to be given us, as he would not confess until night; and when it was already the hour of matins he called us, and I confessed His Highness and the steward, and Father Fray Fee the valet and many other gentlemen; and His Highness communicated at the first sung Mass, and afterwards all the gentlemen who had confessed. We, on Christmas Day, after having dined, returned to our convent."

D. John had thought, no doubt, to ensure better the fruits of his penitence, to go straight from the monastery of Pie de Grutta to the Abruzzi, without entering Naples, to visit at Aquila, and make the acquaintance of his sister Donna Margaret of Austria, the celebrated Governess of the Low Countries and mother of Alexander Farnese. But letters reached him in this retreat of piety from Philip II which were much to his taste, and which obliged him to return to Naples and to put off his visit. These letters made it clear that King Philip had decided to bring about a third campaign against the Turks, according to the injunctions of the League, for March of next year, 1573, and with this end in view he ordered D. John not only to prepare the galleys, which were wintering in Naples, for this date, but also to make their numbers up to 300, and the fighting men to 60,000.

"And now that the affairs of the League are understood and talked about in Rome," wrote D. John to his sister, explaining why he was prevented from paying the visit he had announced, "I must attend to them here, to inform the ministers deputed to do this business about things which require questions and answers. H.M. has very really taken up the continuation of the League, and has, therefore, given orders, and especially to me, to attend to the reinforcement of his fleet. So with this idea all the suitable provisions are being made. I hope to God that all may conduce to damage the enemy, who, one hears, are arming themselves in a great hurry, intending to set out to meet us, but, perchance, they will happen on us before they imagine."

This was enough to awake in D. John the love which dominated all other affections, and from that moment he thought of nothing but of obeying his brother's orders, entirely forgetting Diana Falangola, until he took a short holiday in the middle of February, and left Naples with a small following, only thirty gentlemen, and set out for Aquila, the usual residence of Donna Margarita of Austria. This lady was the eldest child of the Emperor Charles V, born when he was twenty-two, four years before his marriage; her mother was Margarita Vander Gheynst, a beautiful Fleming, orphan of some wealthy carpet-weavers. Her father acknowledged her a long time after her birth, and confided her to his sister, the widowed Queen of Hungary, who was then Governess of the Low Countries. The youthful Margarita was educated by her aunt, whose manly virtues and hasty temper she always imitated, perhaps by natural impulse. They married her when she was twelve years old to Alexander de Medicis, Duke of Florence, who was assassinated during the first year of their marriage; she then wedded Octavio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, by whom she was mother of the great Alexander, afterwards such a famous leader. Her capacity was great, her character strong and masculine, and her piety solid, strengthened by S. Ignacio de Loyola, who for some time in Rome confessed her with much greater frequency than was then usual.

When Philip II publicly acknowledged D. John as his brother Donna Margarita hastened to send an affectionate letter by Francesco de Berminicourt, Lord of Thieuloye, who was one of her "ma?tres d'h?tel," declaring herself a loving sister. D. John had answered suitably, and from that time an uninterrupted correspondence had passed between brother and sister, more filial than fraternal on D. John's part, and more maternal on the part of Donna Margarita, as she was twenty-five years older. When D. John came to Italy for the first time in 1571 Donna Margarita sent one of her principal gentlemen, Pietro Aldobrandini, ............