"I am sure," she wrote, "that the death of so beloved a friend will cause my mother the greatest sorrow. When you return to Lorraine," she adds, "please kiss Her Excellency's hands for me, and tell her that the sufferings which she has undergone in those parts grieve me to the bottom of my soul; and tell her too that we, her servants in this country, shall always be ready to risk our lives and all that we have in her service." "DEJANIRA, CONTESSA TRIVULZIO. "From Codogno, September 29, 1552."[470] There were still faithful hearts in this far-off land who never forgot the Duchess whom they had known in early youth, and who followed her fortunes with tender sympathy and affection. [Sidenote: AUG., 1552] AT HOH-KÖNIGSBERG] But now help came to the sorely-tried Princess from an unexpected quarter. The Marquis Albert had haughtily declined to take any part in the conference that was being held at Passau between King Ferdinand and Maurice of Saxony, or to be included in the treaty which was signed between the Emperor and the Elector on the 15th of August. Instead of laying down his arms, he chose to continue his reckless course, and marched through the Rhineland plundering towns and burning villages, "making war," wrote an eyewitness, "as if he were the devil himself."[471] But when he reached Treves he heard of the Duchess's expulsion from Lorraine and her distressed condition, and, with a touch of the old chivalry that made him dear to women, he promptly sent to offer her shelter in his castle of Hoh-Königsberg, the strongest and finest citadel in the Vosges. Christina accepted the offer gratefully, and during the next few weeks the red sandstone fortress which still crowns the heights above Schlettstadt became her abode. She was there still when the Emperor made his way from Augsburg to the banks of the Rhine, at the head of a formidable army.