On the 14th of October Christina herself wrote to inform the Emperor of her intended departure, and of the good order of her affairs, thanks to the Cardinal and Seigneur de Courrières. "We hope to start to-morrow, and travel by way of Mantua and Trent, and through Germany, taking whichever seems to be the shortest and safest route." There had, it appears, been much discussion over the revenues assigned to the Duchess as her dower, and in the end she was deprived of the town and Castello of Vigevano, which the Duke had left her by his will. But by the terms of her marriage contract she remained absolute mistress of the city of Tortona, and informed the Emperor that, acting on the advice of the Cardinal, as Lady of Tortona, she had appointed a certain Gabriele Panigarola to be Governor of the town, and begged his approval. At the same time she sent her uncle a memorial, drawn up by Montmorency, explaining that, since she had not received the arrears of her dowry, she was not able to pay her servants, and had been forced to contract many debts at Pavia, and to spend money on the repair of the rooms which she occupied in the Castello. Many last requests were addressed to the Duchess by the poor and needy whom she had befriended, and from her own servants, who with one voice begged to be allowed to follow her to Flanders. One of the most pressing came from an old Milanese couple, whose son, Niccolò Belloni, was Christina's secretary, and at their earnest prayer she decided to allow the young man to remain in her service as one of the four Italians who accompanied her to Flanders by the Emperor's orders. And the last letter which the Duchess wrote to the Cardinal, on the eve of her departure, was to plead for a community of noble ladies in Pavia who were reduced to dire poverty owing to the late wars, and begged humbly for a remission of taxes.[147] During the ten months which she had spent at Pavia the young Duchess had made herself beloved by all classes of people, and her departure was lamented by the whole city. III. [Sidenote: OCT., 1537] "EN VOYAGE"]