“Yes,” replied Jeanne. “The Voices urge this chiefly.”
“Will you not tell us in the presence of the King the nature of this Counsel?”
Jeanne blushed and hesitated before replying. Then she said:
“I understand what it is that you wish to know, and I will gladly satisfy you.”
“Jeanne,” said Charles kindly, “it would be very good if you could do what they ask in the presence of those here; but are you sure that you are willing to speak about it?”
“Yes, sire,” she answered simply. Then she turned to them, and spoke with visible emotion.
“When I am vexed to find myself disbelieved in the things I say from God, I retire by myself and pray to God, complaining and asking of Him why I am not
listened to. And when I have finished my prayer I hear a Voice saying: ‘Daughter of God, on, on! I will help thee. On!’ And when I hear the Voice I have great joy.
I would that I could always feel thus.”
The maiden’s face shone as she spoke, “lifting her eyes to Heaven, and she was
in marvellous ecstasy,” so that the men who heard her were dazzled, and sat speechless looking on. Then all in a moment there came a change. Jeanne’s features worked, and she was overcome by emotion. She turned toward the King
beseechingly, and cried brokenly:
“The time is so short. Oh, use it, use it, sire. I shall last such a little while: only a year and little more. Oh, sire, ’tis such a little time to work for France.”
Charles was deeply moved, as were also those with him.
“Dear Maid,” he said, “I will go whenever you––” Robert le Macon interposed
softly:
“When the roads are clear between here and Reims. Your Majesty. It would not
be wise to risk your person on an uncertainty.”
“Let me clear the road, noble Dauphin,” exclaimed the maiden quickly. “I
beseech you, out of your grace to grant me leave to do it.”
“There still remain the strong places on the Loire which will have to be broken up,” remarked the King dubiously.
“They can be broken up. Then you can march.”
“Well, you have our permission to do it, Jeanne,” said the monarch, half laughing. “Never was there such an indefatigable little soldier!”
“When may I begin, sire?” Jeanne’s delight was plainly evident. The delay was
over; action might begin. No wonder she rejoiced.
“As soon as you please,” Charles told her graciously.
Joyously the girl left the room, and began immediately the task of gathering the army together; the army that had been forced to disband through the inertia of its King. A tide of popular enthusiasm arose as soon as it became known that the English towns on the Loire were to be attacked, and from all quarters came men
eager to fight, with or without pay; beginning again to hope for their country and aroused by the Maid’s exploits before Orléans. Selles, a town of Berri, about fifteen miles from Loches and about fifty miles south of Orléans, was chosen for the recruiting camp.
Thither, among other nobles, came one day the two young Counts de Laval: Guy
and his brother André, who could not rest until they had seen Jeanne. Their father had been slain at Agincourt, and they had been brought up by their mother, who had defended their castles against the English, and by their grandmother, in her youth the wife of the great constable, Bertrand Du Gueselin, who had done great deeds for France. Full of boyish enthusiasm for the Maid, they wrote home to their mothers, telling them of Jeanne:
“She seems a creature wholly divine, whether to see or hear. Monday at vespers
she left Selles to go to Romorantin, three leagues in advance of the army, the Marshal of Boussac and a great many soldiers and common people being with her. I saw her get on horseback, armed all in white, except her head, with a little battle-axe in her hand, riding a great black courser, which was very restive at the door of her lodgings, and would not let her mount. So she said, ‘Lead him to the cross,’ which was in front of the church near by, in the road. There she mounted without his budging, just as if he had been tied. And she turned to the church door and called in her sweet woman’s voice: ‘You priests and churchmen, make
processions and prayers to God.’ She then set out on the road, calling, ‘Forward!
Forward!’ with her little battle-axe in her hand, and her banner carried by a page.
Her brothers went with her, all armed in white.”
At Romorantin Jeanne and Alençon, who had been given the command under the Maid, were joined by Dunois and other captains, and together they entered Orléans on the Ninth of June. The people received her with joy, and set about supplying her impoverished army with supplies and artillery, making their gifts directly to the Maid whose courage and wisdom they had cause to know. They
were grateful for their deliverance, but to make that deliverance secure the Loire must be cleared of the strongholds that menaced it. The first point of attack was Jargeau, which lay above Orléans on the south bank of the Loire, about ten miles. It was connected with the north bank by a bridge, which was the only bridge across the river between Orléans and Gien, and was held for the English
by the Earl of Suffolk, one of the commanders before Orléans, who had retreated into this place after the raising of the siege. Ten miles below Orléans lay Meung, which also had a fortified bridge, and six miles below Meung was Beaugency, with a bridge also fortified. Both these places were held by the English, Talbot being in Beaugency, and Lord Scales, his lieutenant, being in Meung. The next
bridge across the river was at Blois, which was French, so that the English could cross either above or below Orléans into the Dauphin’s provinces. By bringing large reinforcements into these places the siege of Orléans could be renewed at any time by the English. It was the part of wisdom to clear them of the enemy.
As has been said, the first point of attack was Jargeau, for the reason that news was brought that Sir John Fastolf was proceeding toward it with reinforcements, and it was Jeanne’s plan to attack it before he could reach it. It was a strong place. After Jeanne left Orléans Dunois had stormed it unsuccessfully for three hours, and Suffolk had strengthened its defences. Its garrison was experienced in all the arts of war.
