Then she learned in what a remarkable manner Elizabeth of Valois, the King’s new wife, favoured the lad of thirteen.  At the taking of the oath by which the Cortes recognised Don Carlos as the heir to the throne, John had been summoned directly after the Infant as the first person entitled to homage.

Next, she learned that he had entered the famous University of Alcala de Henares.

And his classmates and friends?  They were no less important personages than Don Carlos himself and Alessandro Farnese, John’s nephew, the son of that Ottavio at whose admission as Knight of the Golden Fleece Barbara had made at Landshut the most difficult resolution of her life.

He was said to share everything with these distinguished companions, and to be himself the handsomest and most attractive of the illustrious trio.  He was particularly inseparable from Alessandro, the son of the woman now ruling as regent in Brussels, who was John’s sister.

What reply would he have made to this illustrious scion of one of the most ancient and noble royal races if a letter from her had reached him, and the duke’s son had asked, “Who is this Frau Barbara Blomberg?” or, as she now signed herself, “Madame de Blomberg”?

The answer must have been:  “My mother.”

Oh, no, no, never!

It would have been cruel to expect this from him; never would she place her beloved child, her pride, her joy, in so embarrassing a position.

Besides, though she could only watch him from a distance, thanks to his generosity or his brother’s, she could lead a pleasant life.  To sun herself in his glory, too, was sufficiently cheering, and must satisfy her.

He spent three years at the University of Aleala, and nothing but good news of him reached her.  Then she received tidings which gave her special joy, for one of the wishes she had formed in Landshut was fulfilled.  He had been made a Knight of the Golden Fleece, and how becoming the jewel on the red ribbon must be to the youth of one-and-twenty!  How many of her acquaintances belonging to the partisans of the King and Spain came to congratulate her upon it!  Because John had become Spanish, and risen in Spain to the position which she desired for him, she wished to become so, and studied the Spanish language with the zeal and industry of a young girl.  She succeeded in gaining more and more knowledge of it, and, finally, through intercourse with Spaniards, in mastering it completely.

At that time the prospects for her party were certainly gloomy; the heretical agitation and the boldness of the rebellious enthusiasts for independence and liberty surpassed all bounds.

The King therefore sent the Duke of Alba to the Netherlands to restore order, and, with the twenty thousand men he commanded, make the insurgents feel the resistless power of offended majesty and the angered Church.