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 "maîtres d'hôtel," 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, to Genoa to welcome him, offer him hospitality, and to say how great was her desire to see and embrace him. D. John was no less anxious to see this unknown sister, who had shown him so much affection, and on the first opportunity, the one we speak of, he set out for Aquila, where Donna Margarita lived, having given over the government of Flanders to the Duque de Alba.