Joan of Arc | Page 6

loss of Orleans the whole of what remained to the
French King must fall into the hands of the enemy, and France felt her
last hour of independence had come.
Joan determined on again seeking an interview with Robert de
Baudricourt, and this second meeting between her and the knight,
which took place six months after the first, had far happier results. As
M. Simeon Luce has pointed out in his history of 'Jeanne d'Arc at
Domremy,' the situation both of Charles VI. and of the knight of
Vaucouleurs was far different in 1429 to what it had been when Joan
first saw de Baudricourt at Vaucouleurs in the previous year. The most
important stronghold held by the French in their ever-lessening
territory was in utmost danger of falling into the grasp of the English;
while de Baudricourt was anxiously waiting to hear whether his
protector, the Duc de Bar, whom Bedford had summoned to enter into a
treaty with the English, would not be prevailed upon to do so. If he
consented, this would make the knight's tenure of Vaucouleurs
impracticable. It was probably owing to this state of affairs that, on her
second interview with the knight of Vaucouleurs, Joan of Arc was
favourably received by him. Since the first visit to de Baudricourt by
the Maid of Domremy, her name had become familiar to many of the
people in and about Vaucouleurs. An officer named Jean de Metz has
left some record of his meeting at this time with Joan; for he was
afterwards examined among other witnesses at the time of the Maid's
rehabilitation in 1456. De Metz describes the Maid as being clothed in
a dress of coarse red serge, the same as she wore on her first visit to
Vaucouleurs. When he questioned her as to what she expected to gain
by coming again to Vaucouleurs, she answered that she had returned to
induce Robert de Baudricourt to conduct her to the King; but that on
her first visit he was deaf to her entreaties and prayers. But, she added,

she was still determined to appear before Charles, even if she had to go
to him all the way on her knees.
'For I alone,' she added, 'and no other person, whether he be King, or
Duke, or daughter of the King of Scots' (alluding to the future wife of
Charles VII.'s son, Louis XI.--Margaret of Scotland) 'can recover the
kingdom of France.'
As far as her own wishes were concerned, she said she would prefer to
return to her home, and to spin again by the side of her beloved mother;
for, she added: 'I am not made to follow the career of a soldier; but I
must go and carry out this my calling, for my Lord has appointed me to
do so.'
'And who,' asked de Metz, 'is your Lord?'
'My Lord,' answered the Maid, 'is God Himself.'
The enthusiasm of Joan seems to have at once gained the soldier's heart.
He took her by the hand, and swore that God willing he would
accompany her to the King. When asked how soon she would be ready
to start, she said that she was ready. 'Better to-day than to-morrow, and
better to-morrow than later on.'
During her second visit to Vaucouleurs, Joan remained with the same
friends as on her former visit; they appear to have been an honest
couple, of the name of Le Royer. One day while Joan was helping in
the domestic work of her hosts, and seated by the side of Catherine Le
Royer, Robert de Baudricourt suddenly entered the room, accompanied
by a priest, one Jean Fournier, in full canonicals. It appeared that the
knight had conceived the brilliant idea of finding out, through the
assistance of the holy man, whether Joan was under the influence of
good or evil spirits, before allowing her to go to the King's Court.
As may be imagined, Joan received the priest with all respect, kneeling
before him; and the good father was soon able to reassure de
Baudricourt that the evil spirits had no part or parcel in the heart of the
maid who received him with so much humility.

[Illustration: CHINON.]
For three weeks Joan was left in suspense at Vaucouleurs, and probably
it was not until a messenger had been sent to Chinon and had returned
with a favourable answer, that at length de Baudricourt gave a
somewhat unwilling consent to Joan's leaving Vaucouleurs on her
mission to Chinon. During those weary weeks of anxious waiting,
Joan's hostess bore witness in after days to the manner in which the
time was passed: of how she would help Catherine in her spinning and
other homely work, but, as when at home, her chief delight was to
attend the Church services,