The dread of a French invasion had united all parties in Milan. The citizens forgot their hatred of the Spaniards in their terror of another siege, and cheerfully submitted to fresh taxes to pay the defending army. It was a late spring that year in Lombardy, the weather was bitterly cold, and by the end of April the vines had only put forth tiny shoots, and the roses were not yet in flower. Nothing was heard in the streets but the din of approaching warfare, and the tramp of armed _Landsknechten_ marching from Tyrol on their way to the frontier. But in the last days of April Christina's dull life was brightened by the sudden arrival of the Duchess of Savoy, who fled from the camp at Vercelli to take refuge in the Castello of Milan. Times were altered since the two Princesses had met at Turin, and the Duchess Beatrix, who had welcomed the little bride so warmly, was sadly changed in body and mind. She had lost her eldest son, and been driven out of her home by foreign invaders, never to return there again in her lifetime. With her she brought her two remaining children, the little Princess Catherine and Emanuel Philibert, who was one day to become famous as the bravest captain in Europe. And she also brought a treasure which excited the utmost enthusiasm among the Milanese--the Holy Shroud of St. Joseph of Arimathea, which had been preserved for centuries at Chambéry. Crowds flocked to the Duomo when Beatrix's Franciscan confessor preached, in the hope of seeing the precious Shroud; but the Duchess would not allow the relic to leave the Castello, and on the 7th it was exposed on the ramparts to the view of an enormous multitude assembled in the piazza.[134] A week later Francesco Sforza's cousin, Ferrante Gonzaga, and the Duke of Savoy, came to Milan, but soon left for the camp. Beatrix then obtained permission to pay the Emperor a visit on his journey north, and by Charles's express request took Christina with her. On the 18th of May the magistrates of Pavia received orders from the Duchess of Milan's _maggiordomo_, Benedetto da Corte, to prepare lodgings for Her Excellency and the Duchess of Savoy, as near to each other as possible.[135] The Castello of Pavia had suffered terribly in the siege by Lautrec in 1528, but a few rooms were hastily furnished, and on the 20th Beatrix and Christina arrived, escorted by Count Massimiliano and several courtiers. Early on the following morning the two Duchesses rode out to Arena on the Po, where they found the Emperor awaiting them. Charles was unfeignedly glad to see both his sister-in-law and the niece whom he had left as a child at Brussels four years before, and welcomed them affectionately.[136] But the interview was a short one, and the next day he continued his journey to Asti, where he joined Antonio de Leyva and Ferrante Gonzaga, and prepared to invade Provence. [Sidenote: OCT., 1536] CARDINAL CARACCIOLO]