CHAPTER V

JEANNE D’ARC--“LA PUCELLE”

“Give me René!”--Village of Domremy--Village feuds--A busy mother--A weird accouchement--Le Bois Chènus--Voices--St. Michael--Mad Jehanne--A coarse kirtle--She touched the hilt--Duke Charles’s strange visitors--A dash around the courtyard--“Vive la nostre Royne!”--A pilgrimage march--Priests and minstrels--A famous sword--Jeanne’s oriflamme--A dissolute Court--Charles VI. at Chinon--A winning hazard--Certain secrets--Jeanne’s double ordeal--Bishops and matrons--“La Pucelle” so named by Queen Yolande--Filles de Joie--White armour--An ultimatum--Divided counsels--The siege of Orléans--“The Maid” wounded--En route to Reims--The “Sacré”--Jeanne’s modesty--Her apotheosis--“Sire, I bid you farewell”--René the hero--Jeanne the heroine--To expel the hated English--The fall of Paris--“The Maid” a prisoner--Deserted by everyone--A mock trial--A human wreck--Burnt to death--A maiden’s heart and a white dove--“Ma Royne est mort!” René’s lament--Charles’s remorse--The memory of Jeanne d’Arc 143-173