A Heroine of France | Page 5

enfant; va souvent a l'eglise"; that was their first message to me, when I
was but a child; and now you say the same to me--be a good girl. Thus
I know that your heart is right, and that when my Lord's time is come
you will send me with His message to the Dauphin.'
"And so saying she bent again in a modest reverence before us. Yet let
me tell you that as she did so, every man of us sprang to his feet by an
impulse which each one felt, yet none could explain. As one man we
rose, and bowed before her, as she retired from the hail with the simple,
stately grace of a young queen. Not till the door had closed behind her
did we bethink us that it was to a humble peasant girl we had paid

unconscious homage. We who had thought she would well-nigh sink to
the dust at sight of us, had been made to feel that we were in the
presence of royalty!"
"Tu Dieu! but that is a strange story!" quoth Sir Guy with knitted brows.
"For many a long day I have heard nought so strange! What think you
of it yourself, good Bertrand? For by my troth you speak like a man
convinced that a miracle may even yet be wrought for France at the
hand of this maid."
"And if I do, is that so strange? Cannot it be that the good God may still
speak through His saints to the sons of men, and may raise up a
deliverer for us, even as He did in the days of old for His chosen people?
Is His arm shortened at all? And is it meet that we Christian knights
should trust Him less than did the Jews of old?"
Sir Guy made no reply, but fell into thought, and then asked a sudden
question:
"Who is this peasant maid of whom you speak? And where is she now?
Is she still abiding content at home, awaiting the time appointed by her
visions?"
"I trow that she is," answered Bertrand. "I did hear that she went home
without delay, as quietly as she had come. Her name is Jeanne d'Arc.
She dwells in the village of Domremy over yonder. Her father is an
honest prud'homme of the place. She has brothers and a sister. She is
known in the village as a pious and gentle maid, ever ready to tend the
sick, hold vigil for the dead, take charge of an ailing child, or do any
such simple service for the neighbours. She is beloved of all, full of
piety and good works, constant in attendance at church, regular in her
confession and at mass. So much have I heard from her kinsman Laxart,
though for mine own part I have not seen her again."
"And what thinks De Baudricourt of her mission? Does he ever speak
of it?"
"Not often; and yet I know that he has not forgotten it. For ofttimes he

does sink into a deep reverie; and disjointed words break from him,
which tell me whither his thoughts have flown.
"At the first he did say to me, 'Let the girl go home; let us see if we
hear more of her. If this be but a phantasy on her part; if she has been
fasting and praying and dreaming, till she knows not what is true and
what is her own imagining, why, time will cure her of her fancies and
follies. If otherwise--well, we will see when the time comes. To act in
haste were to act with folly.'
"And so he dismissed the matter, though, as I say, he doth not forget it,
and I think never a day comes but he thinks on it."
"And while the Lord waits, the English are active!" cried Sir Guy with
a note of impatience in his voice. "They are already threatening Orleans.
Soon they will march in strength upon it. And if that city once fall, why
what hope is there even for such remnants of his kingdom as still
remain faithful south of the Loire? The English will have them all.
Already they call our King in mockery 'the King of Bourges;' soon even
that small domain will be reft away, and then what will remain for him
or for us? If the visions of the maiden had been true, why doth not the
Lord strike now, before Salisbury of England can invest the city? If
Orleans fall, all is lost!"
"But Jeanne says that Orleans shall be saved," spoke Bertrand in a low
voice, "and if she speaks sooth, must not she and we alike leave the
times and seasons in the hand of the Lord?"
Sir Guy shrugged his shoulders, and