From Luxemburg she directed what should be done with her house, her servants, and the recipients of her alms.  Hannibal Melas relieved her of the care of Maestro Feys, which she had undertaken, and under his faithful nursing the old musician was granted many more years of life.  The Maltese also distributed among her poor the large sums which the sale of Barbara’s property produced.

In Spain she was received with the utmost consideration by the Marquis de la Mota, Dona Magdalena de Ulloa’s brother, and later by the lady herself.  But at first there was no real bond of affection between these women, and this was Barbara’s fault, for Dona Magdalena’s experience was the same as Don John’s.  She perceived with shame how greatly she had undervalued Don John’s mother—­nay, how much she had wronged her—­but her sedulous efforts to make amends for the error produced an effect upon Barbara different from her expectations; for the great lady’s manner seemed like a confession of guilt, and kept alive the memory of the anguish of soul which Dona Magdalena had so often inflicted upon her.

The early death of the young hero whom both loved so tenderly first drew them together.  Barbara had witnessed with very different feelings from Dona Magdalena and her brother how the former regarded every false step of Don John, and especially that of his expedition to England, as a heavy misfortune, and as such bewailed it.  Dona Magdalena had been firmly convinced that the spell of fame which surrounded the victor of Lepanto, and the irresistible lovableness characteristic of his whole nature, would finally win the hearts of the Netherlanders, and even induce the Prince of Orange, whose friendship Don John himself hoped to gain, to join hands with him in the attempt to work for the welfare of his country.

Barbara knew that this expectation deceived him.

Toleration and liberty were the blessings which the Prince of Orange desired to win for his people, and both were hateful to her son, reared at the Spanish court, as she herself saw in them an encroachment upon the just demands of the Church and the claims of royalty.  Fire and water could harmonize more easily than these two men, and Barbara foresaw which of them in this conflict would be the extinguishing flood.

She perceived how waterfall after waterfall was quenching the flames which burned in Don John’s honest soul for the supposed welfare of the nation intrusted to him.  He was reaping hatred, scorn, and humiliation wherever he had hoped to win love and gratitude in the Netherlands.  His royal brother left him in the lurch where he was entitled to depend upon his assistance.  But when Philip let the mask fall and showed openly how deeply he distrusted the glorious son of his dead father, and to what a degree his ill will had risen—­when he committed the cruel crime of having Escovedo, the devoted, loyal friend and counsellor of the victor of Lepanto, assassinated in Madrid, where he had come to labour in his master’s cause—­the most ambitious and sensitive of hearts received the deathblow which was to put an end to his famous career and his young life.