Datasets:

NicholasSynovic
/

Modified-VEAA

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (2)

train · 42.9k rows

text stringlengths 1.96k 5.76k	author int64 1 50
way he had on a crimson velvet cape that came no lower than his elbows on his head he had a tall felt thing like a with a feather in its band that stuck up like a pen from an and from that his bush of stiff hair stuck down to his shoulders outward at the bottom so that the cap and the hair together made the head like a all the materials of his dress were rich and all the colors brilliant in his lap he a miniature that lifting its lip and showing its white teeth whenever any slight movement disturbed it the king s were dressed in about the same fashion as himself and when i remembered that had called the war council of disguised ladies maids it reminded me of people who all tb money on a trifle and then haven t anything mark twain to invest when they come across a better chance that name ought to have been saved for these creatures fell on her knees before the majesty of and the other frivolous animal in his a sight which it pained me to see what had that man done for his country or for anybody in it that she or any other person should kneel to him but she she had just done the only great deed that had been done for in fifty years and had consecrated it with the of her blood the positions have been reversed however to be fair one must grant that charles himself very well for the most part on that occasion very much better than he was in the habit of doing he passed his to a and took off his cap to as if she had been a queen then he stepped from his throne and raised her and showed quite a spirited and manly joy and gratitude in her and thanking her for her extraordinary achievement in his service my prejudices are of a later date than that if he had continued as he was at that moment i should not have acquired them he acted handsomely he said you shall not kneel to me my general you have wrought and royal are your due noticing that she was pale he said but you must not stand you have lost blood for and your is yet green come he led her to a seat and sat down by her now then speak out frankly as to one who owes you much recollections of op arc and freely it before all this assemblage what shall be your reward name it i was ashamed of him and yet that was not fair for how could he be expected to know this child in these few weeks when we who thought we had known her all her life were daily seeing the clouds some new of her character whose existence was not suspected by us before but we are all that way when we know a thing we have only scorn for other people who don t happen to know it and i was ashamed of these too for the way they licked their so to speak as her great chance they not knowing her any better than the king did a blush began to rise in s cheeks at the thought that she was working for her for pay and she dropped her head and tried to hide her face as girls always do when they find themselves blushing no one knows why they do but they do and the more they blush the more they fail to get reconciled to it and the more they can t bear to have people look at them when they are doing it the king made it a great deal worse by calling attention to it which is the thing a person can do when a girl is blushing sometimes when there is a big crowd of strangers it is even likely to her cry if she is as young as was god knows the reason for this it is hidden from men as for me i would as soon blush as in fact i would rather however these meditations are not of consequence i will go on with what i was saying the king rallied her for blushing and s mark twain this brought up the rest of the blood and turned her face to fire then he was sorry seeing what he had done and tried to make her comfortable by the blush was exceedingly becoming to her and not to mind it which caused even the dog to notice it now so of course the red in s face turned to purple and the tears and ran down i could have told anybody that that would happen the king was distressed and saw that the best thing to do would be to get away from this subject so he began to say the finest kind of things about s capture of the and presently when she was more composed he mentioned the reward again and pressed her to name it everybody listened with anxious interest to hear what her claim was going to be but when her answer came their faces showed that the thing she asked for was not what they had been expecting h dear and gracious i have but one desire only one if do not be afraid my child name it that you will not delay a day my army is strong and and eager to finish its work march with me to and receive your crown you could see the indolent king shrink in his butterfly to oh impossible my general we march through the heart of england s power could those be french faces there not one of them lighted in response to the girl s brave proposition but all promptly showed satisfaction in the s objection leave	34
this silken idleness for the recollections of of arc rude contact of war none of these de that they passed their boxes one to another and whispered their content in the head butterfly s practical prudence pleaded with the king saying ah i pray you do not throw away this perfect opportunity everything is favorable everything it is as if the circumstances were specially made for it the spirits of our army are exalted with victory those of the english forces depressed by defeat delay will change this seeing us hesitate to follow up our advantage our men will wonder doubt lose confidence and the english will wonder gather courage and be bold again now is the time let us march the king shook his head and la being asked for an opinion eagerly furnished it all prudence is against it think of the english along the think of those that between us and he was going on but cut him short and said turning to him if we wait they will all be strengthened will that advantage us no then what is your suggestion what is it that you would propose to do my judgment is to wait wait for what the minister was obliged to hesitate for he knew of no explanation that would sound well moreover he was not used to being in this mark twain with the eyes of a crowd of people on him so he was irritated and said matters of state are not proper matters for public discussion said placidly i have to beg your pardon my came of ignorance i did not know that matters connected with your department of the government were matters of state the minister lifted his brows in amused surprise and said with a touch of sarcasm i am the king s chief minister and yet you had the impression that matters connected with my department are not matters of state pray how is that replied indifferently because there is no state no state no sir there is no state and no use for a minister is shrunk to a couple of acres of ground a s could take care of it its affairs are not matters of state the term is too large the king did not blush but burst into a hearty careless laugh and the court laughed too but turned its head and did it silently la was angry and opened his mouth to speak but the king put up his hand and said there i take her the royal protection she has spoken the truth the truth how seldom i hear it with all this on me and all this about me i am but a after all poor shabby two acre and you are but recollections of of arc a and he laughed his laugh again my frank honest general will you name reward i would you you shall quarter the crown and the lilies of for and with them your victorious sword to defend them speak the word it made an eager of surprise and envy in the assemblage but shook her head and said ah i cannot dear and noble to be allowed to work for france to spend one s self for is itself so supreme a reward that nothing can add to it nothing give me the one reward i ask the dearest of all rewards the highest in your gift march with me to and receive your crown i will beg it on my knees but the king put his hand on her arm and there was a really brave awakening in his voice and a manly fire in his eye when he said no sit you have conquered me it shall be as you but a warning sign from his minister halted him and he added to the relief of the court well well we will think of it we will think it over and see does that content you impulsive uttle soldier the first part of the speech sent a glow of delight to s face but the end of it it and she looked sad and the tears gathered in her eyes after a moment she spoke out with what seemed a sort of terrified impulse and said oh use me i you use me there is but little time mark twain but uttle time only a i shall last only a year why there are fifty good years in that compact little body yet h you indeed you do in one little year the end will come ah the time is so short so short the moments are fl and so much to be done oh use me and quickly it is life or death for france even those insects were by her impassioned words the king looked very grave grave and strongly impressed his eyes lit suddenly with an eloquent fire and he rose and drew his sword and raised it aloft then he brought it slowly down upon s shoulder and said ah thou art so simple so true so great so noble and by this i join thee to the nobility of thy fitting place and for thy sake i do all thy family and all thy kin and all their descendants bom in not only in the male but also in the female line and more more to distinguish thy house and honor it above all others we add a privilege never accorded to any before in the history of these the females of thy line shall have and hold the right to their husbands when these shall be of inferior degree astonishment and envy up in every countenance when the words were uttered which conferred this extraordinary grace the king paused and looked around upon these signs with quite evident satisfaction rise of arc now and henceforth du lis in grateful	34
ac recollections of of arc of the good blow which you have struck for the lilies of france and they and the royal crown and your own victorious sword fit and fair company for each other shall be in your and be and remain the symbol of your high nobility forever as my lady du lis rose the gilded children of privilege pressed forward to welcome her to their sacred ranks and call her by her new name but she was troubled and said these honors were not meet for one of her lowly birth and station and by their kind grace she would remain simple of arc nothing more and so be called nothing more as if there could be more anything higher anything greater my lady du lis why it was petty but op arc the mere sound of it sets one s leaping chapter xxiv it was to see what a to do the whole town and next the whole country made over the news of arc by the king people went dizzy with wonder and delight over it you cannot imagine how she was at stared at envied why one would have supposed that some great and fortunate thing had happened to her but we did not think any great things of it to our minds no mere human hand could add a glory to of arc to us she was the sun soaring in the heavens and her new nobility a candle of it to us it was swallowed up and lost in her own light and she was as indifferent to it and as unconscious of it as the other sun would have been but it was different with her brothers they were proud and happy in their new dignity which was quite natural and was glad it had been conferred when she saw how pleased they were it was a clever thought in the king to her scruples by marching on them shelter of her love for her family and her kin and their coat of arms right away and their society was by everybody the and alike the standard bearer said with some touch of bitterness that he i recollections of of arc could see that they just felt good to be alive they were so soaked with the comfort of their glory and didn t like to sleep at all because when they were asleep they didn t know they were noble and so sleep was a clean loss of time and then he said they can t take of me in military and state ceremonies but when it comes to civil ones and society affairs i judge they ll coolly in behind you and the knights and and i will have to walk behind them hey yes i said i think you are right i was just afraid of it just afraid of it said the standard bearer with a sigh afraid of it i m talking like a fool of course i knew it yes i was talking like a fool said yes i noticed something natural about the tone of it we others laughed oh you did did you you think you are very clever don t you i ll take and neck for you one of these days the de said your fears haven t reached the top they are away below the grand possibilities didn t it occur to you that in civil and society functions they will take of all the rest of the personal every individual of us oh come you ll find it s so look at their its chief est feature is the lilies of it s royal man royal do you understand the size of mark twain that the lilies are there by authority of the king do you the size of that though not in detail and in they do nevertheless quarter the arms of france in their coat imagine it consider it measure the magnitude of it we walk in front of those boys bless you we ve done that for the last time in my opinion there isn t a lay lord in this whole region that can walk in front of them except the duke d prince of the blood you could have knocked the down with a feather he seemed to actually turn pale he worked his lips a moment without getting anything out then it came didn t know that nor the half of it how could i i ve been an idiot i see it now i ve been an idiot i met them this morning and out to them just as i would to anybody i didn t mean to be ill but i didn t know the half of this that you ve been telling i ve been an ass yes that is all there is to it i ve been an ass said in a kind of weary way yes that is likely enough but i don t see why you should seem surprised at it you don t don t you well why don t you because i don t see any novelty about it with some people it is a condition which is present all the time now you take a condition which is present all the time and the results of that condition will be this of result will in time become monotonous by the law pf a recollections of of arc its being is if you had manifested upon noticing that you had been an ass that would have been logical that would have been rational whereas it seems to me that to manifest surprise was to be again an ass because the condition of intellect that can enable a person to be surprised and stirred by is a now that is enough stop where you are before you get yourself into trouble and don t	34
bother me any more for some days or a week an it please you for i cannot abide come i like that i didn t want to talk i tried to get out of talking if you didn t want to hear my what did you keep your conversation on me for i i never dreamed of such a thing well you did it anyway and i have a right to feel and i do feel hurt to have you treat me so it seems to me that when a person and crowds and in a manner forces another person to talk it is neither very fair nor very good to call what he says oh do and break your heart you poor thing somebody fetch this sick doll a sugar rag look you sir de do you feel absolutely certain about that thing what thing why that and are going to take of all the lay except the duke d i think there is not a doubt of it s if mark twain the bearer was deep in and dreams a few moments then the silk and velvet expanse of his vast breast rose and fell with a sigh and he said dear dear what a lift it is it just shows what luck can do well i don t care i shouldn t care to be a painted accident i shouldn t value it i am to have climbed up to where i am just by sheer natural merit than i would be to ride the very in the and have to reflect that i was nothing but a poor little accident and got shot up there out of somebody else s to me merit is in fact the only thing all else is just then the blew the assembly and that cut our talk short chapter xxv the days began to waste away and nothing decided nothing done the army was fuu of zeal but it was also hungry it got no pay the treasury was getting empty it was becoming impossible to feed it under pressure of it began to fall apart and which pleased the trifling court exceedingly s distress was pitiful to see she was obliged to stand helpless while her victorious army dissolved away until hardly the skeleton of it was left at last one day she went to the castle of where the king was she foimd him consulting with three of his robert le a former of france d and the of was present also and it is through him that we know what happened threw herself at the king s feet and embraced his knees saying noble hold no more of these long and numerous but come and come quickly to and receive crown d asked is it your voices that command you to say that to the king yes and mark twain then will you not tell us in the king s presence in what way the voices communicate with you it was another sly attempt to trap into and dangerous pretensions but nothing came of it s answer was simple and straightforward and the smooth bishop was not able to find any fault with it she said that when she met with people who doubted the truth of her mission she went aside and prayed complaining of the distrust of these and then the comforting voices were heard at her ear saying soft and low go forward daughter of god and i will help thee then she added when i hear that the joy in my heart oh it is the said that when she said these words her face lit up as with a flame and she was like one in an ecstasy pleaded persuaded reasoned gaining ground little by little but opposed step by step by the council she begged she implored leave to march when they could answer nothing further they granted that perhaps it had been a mistake to let the army waste away but how could we help it now how could we march without any army raise one said but it will take six weeks no matter begin let us begin it is too late without doubt the duke of has been gathering troops to push to the of his on the yes while we have been ours and recollections of of arc pity tis but we must throw away no more time we must ourselves the objected that he could not venture toward with those strong places on the in his path but said we will break them up then you can march with that plan the king was willing to venture assent he could sit out of danger while the road was being cleared came back in great spirits straightway everything was stirring were issued calling for men a camp was established at in and the and the began to flock to it with enthusiasm a deal of the month of may had been wasted and yet by the th of june had swept together a new army and was ready to march she had eight thousand men think of that think of gathering together such a body as that in that little region and these were soldiers too in fact of the men in france were soldiers when you came to that for the wars had lasted generations now yes most were soldiers and admirable too both by practice and inheritance they had done next to nothing but run for near a century but that was not their fault they had had no fair and proper at least leaders with a fair and proper chance away back king and got the habit of being treacherous to the leaders then the leaders easily got the habit of the king and going their own way each for himself and nobody for the bt no mark twain body could win that way hence running	34
became the habit of the french troops and no wonder yet all that those troops needed in order to be good was a leader who would attend strictly to business a leader with all authority in his hands in place of a tenth of it along with nine other equipped with an equal tenth apiece they had a leader rightly clothed with authority now and with a head and heart bent on war of the most intensely and earnest sort and there would be results no doubt of that they had of arc and under that their legs would lose the art and mystery of running yes was in great spirits she was here and there and everywhere all over the camp by day and by night pushing things and wherever she came charging down the lines the troops it was good to hear them break out and cheer and nobody could help cheering she was such a vision of yoimg bloom and beauty and grace and such an of pluck and life and go she was growing more and more beautiful every day as was plain to be seen and these were days of development for she was well past seventeen now in fact she was getting dose upon seventeen and a half indeed just a little woman as you may say the two counts de arrived one day fine young fellows allied to the greatest and most illustrious houses of france and they could not rest till they had seen of arc so the king sent for them and presented them to her and you may believe she filled the bill of their expectations recollections of of arc when they heard that rich voice of hers they must have thought it was a and when they saw her deep eyes and her face and the soul that looked out of that face you could see that the sight of her stirred them like a poem like lofty eloquence like martial music one of them wrote home to his people and in his letter he said it seemed something divine to see her and hear her ah yes and it was a true word truer word was never spoken he saw her when she was ready to begin her march and open the campaign and this is what he said about it she was clothed all in white save her head and in her hand she carried a little battle ax and when she was ready to mount her great black horse he reared and plunged and would not let her then she said lead him to the cross this cross was in front of the church dose by so they led him there then she and he never any more than if he had been tied then she turned toward the door of the church and said in her soft womanly voice you priests and people of the church make and pray to god for us then she away her standard with her little ax in her hand cr ring forward march one of her brothers who came eight days ago departed with her and he also was clad all in white i was there and i saw it too saw it au just as he pictures it and i see it yet the little the dainty cap the white all mark twain in the soft june afternoon i see it just as if it were yesterday and i rode with the the personal staff the staff of of arc that young count was dying to go too but the king held him back for the present but had made him a promise in his letter he said she told me that when the king starts for i shall go with him but god grant i may not have to wait till then but may have a part in the battles she made him that promise when she was taking leave of my lady the d the was a promise so it seemed a proper time for others to do the like the was troubled for her husband for she foresaw desperate fighting and she held to her breast and her hair lovingly and said you must watch over him dear and take care of him and send him back to me safe i require it of you i wiu not let you go till you promise said i give you the promise with all my heart and it is not just words it is a promise you shall have him back without a hurt do you believe and are you satisfied with me now the could not speak but she kissed on the forehead and so they parted we left on the th and stopped over at then on the th entered in state under arches with the cannon thundering and seas of flags fluttering in the breeze the grand staff rode with her clothed a recollections of of arc in shining of costume and the duke d the of the de of france the lord de master of the the de admiral of france de lor de called la hire de and other illustrious captains it was grand times the usual and packed multitudes the usual crush to get sight of but at last we crowded through to our old lodgings and i saw old and the wife and that dear gather to their hearts and her with kisses and my heart ached so for i could have kissed better than anybody and more and longer yet was not thought of for that office and i so for it ah she was so beautiful and oh so sweet i had loved her the first day i ev saw her and from that day forth she was sacred to me i have carried her image in my heart for sixty three years all lonely	34
its seven thousand picked of arc is to the fore and by the splendor of god its fate is sealed oh he carried them there was not another word said about persuading to change her they sat talking comfortably enough after that by and by entered and they rose and saluted with their swords and she asked what their pleasure might be la hire said it is settled my general the matter a mark twain there were some who thought we could not take the place laughed her pleasant laugh her merry laugh the laugh that so from her lips and made old people feel young again to hear it and she said to the company have no fears indeed there is no need nor any occasion for them we will strike the english boldly by assault and you will see then a look came into her eyes and i think that a of her home drifted across the vision of her mind for she said very gently and as one who but that i know god guides us and will give us success i had keep sheep than endure these perils we had a farewell supper that evening just the personal staff and the family had to miss it for the city had given a banquet in her honor and she had gone there in state with the grand staff through a riot of joy bells and a sparkling way of after supper some lively young folk whom we knew came in and we presently forgot that we were soldiers and only remembered that we were boys and girls and full of animal spirits and long pent fun and so there was dancing and games and and screams of laughter just as and innocent and noisy a good time as ever i had in my life dear dear how long ago it was and i was young then and outside au the while was the measured tramp of marching odds and ends of the french power gathering recollections op op arc for the morrow s tragedy on the grim stage of war yes in those days we had those side by side and as i passed along to bed there was another one the big dwarf in brave new sat at s door the stem spirit of war made flesh as it were and on his ample was curled a asleep chapter we made a gallant show next day when we filed out through the frowning gates of with flying and and the grand staff in the van of the long column those two yoimg de were come now and were joined to the grand staff which was war being their proper trade for they were of that illustrious du of in earlier days louis de the de and the de were added also we had a right to feel a little uneasy for we knew that a force of five thousand men was on its way under sir john to but i think we were not uneasy nevertheless in truth that force was not yet in our neighborhood sir john was for some reason or other he was not he was losing precious time four days at and more at we reached and began business at once sent forward a heavy force which hurled itself against the in handsome style and gained a footing and fought hard to keep it but it presently began to fall back before a from the seeing this raised her battle cry and recollections op op arc led a new herself a fire the was down at her side wounded but she snatch her stand d from his failing hand and plunged on through th of flying cheering her men with encouraging cries and then for a good time one had turmoil and dash of steel and collision and confusion of struggling multitudes and the hoarse of the guns and then the hiding of it all under a rolling of smoke a through which veiled appeared for a moment now and then giving fitful dim glimpses of the wild tragedy beyond and always at these times one caught sight of that slight figure in white mail which was the and soul of our hope d trust and whenever we saw that with its back to us and its face to the fight we knew that all was well at last a great shout went up a joyous roar of in fact and that was sign sufficient that the were yes they were s the enemy had been driven back within the walls on the ground which had won we for night was coming sent a to the english promising that if they surrendered she would allow them to go in peace and take their horses with them nobody knew that she could take that strong but she knew it knew it well yet she offered that grace offered it in a time when such a thing was unknown in war in a time when it was custom and usage to the garrison and the inhabitants of captured cities without pity or yes mark twain even to the women and children sometimes there are neighbors all about you who well remember the unspeakable which charles the bold inflicted upon the men and women and children of when he took that place some years ago it was a unique and kindly grace which offered that garrison but that was her way that was her loving and merciful nature she did her best to save he enemy s life and his pride when she had the mastery of him the english asked fifteen days to consider the proposal in and coming with five thousand men said no but she offered another grace they might take both their horses and their side arms but they must go within the hour well those	34
english were pretty hard headed folk they declined again then gave command that her army be made ready to move to the assault at nine in the morning considering the deal of marching and fighting which the men had done that day d thought the hour rather early but said it was best so and so must be obeyed then she st out with one of those which were always burning in her when battle was imminent and said work work and god will work with us yes one might say that her motto was work stick to it keep on working for in war she never knew what was and whoever will take that motto and live by it will be likely to succeed there s many a way to win in this world but none a recollections of of arc of them is worth much without good hard work back of it i think we should have lost our big standard bearer that day if our bigger dwarf had not been at hand to bring him out of the m e when he was wounded he was unconscious and would have been trampled to death by our own horse if the dwarf had not promptly rescued him and him to the rear and safety he recovered and was himself again after two or three hours and then he was happy and proud and made the most of his wound and went in his showing off like an innocent big child which was just what he was he was of being wounded than a really modest person would be of being killed but there was no harm in his vanity and nobody minded it he said he was hit by a stone from a a stone the size of a man s head but the stone grew of course before he got through with it he was claiming that the enemy had flung a building at him let him alone said don t interrupt his processes to morrow it will be a cathedral he said that privately and sure enough tomorrow it was a cathedral i never saw anybody with such an abandoned imagination was abroad at the crack of dawn galloping here and there and yonder examining the situation and choosing what she considered the most effective positions for her and with mark twain such accurate judgment did she place her guns that her lieutenant general s admiration of it still survived in his memory when his testimony was taken the a quarter of a century later tn this testimony the duke d said that at that morning of the t th of june she made her dispositions not like a but with the sure and clear judgment of a trained general of twenty or thirty years experience the captains of the of said she was great in war in all ways but greatest of all in her genius for and handling who taught the shepherd girl to do these she who could not read and had had no opportunity to study the complex arts of war i do not know any way to solve such a riddle as that there being na precedent for it nothing in history to compare it with and examine it by for in history there is no great general however gifted arrived at success otherwise than through able teach ing and hard study and some experience it is l riddle which will never be guessed think these vast powers and were bom in her and that she applied them by an which could not at eight o clock all movement ceased and with it all sounds all noise a mute reigned the stillness was something awful because it meant so there was no air stirring the flags on the towers and hung straight down like wherever one saw a person that person had stopped what he was doing and was in a waiting attitude a listening attitude we were on a com recollections of of arc spot clustered around not far from us on every hand were the lanes and humble dwellings of these many people were visible all were listening not one was moving a man had placed a nail he was about to fasten something with it to the door post of his shop but he had stopped there was his hand reaching up holding the nail and there was his other hand in the act of striking with the hammer but he had forgotten his head was turned aside listening even children unconsciously ed in their play i saw a little boy with his stick pointed toward the ground in the act of the around the comer and so he had stopped and was listening the was rolling away doing its own i saw a young girl prettily framed in an open window a watering pot in her hand and window boxes of red flowers under its but the water had ceased to flow the girl was listening ever were these impressive forms and everywhere was suspended and that awful stillness of arc raised her sword in the air at the signal the silence wa s torn to rags cannon after cannon flames and smoke and delivered its and we saw answering tongues of fire dart from the towers and walls of the city accompanied by answering deep and in a minute the walls and the towers disappeared and in their place stood vast banks and p a of snowy smoke motionless in the dead air the startled girl dropped her watering pot and clasped mark twain her hands together and at that moment a stone cannon ball through her fair body the great went on each side away with all its might and it was splendid for smoke and noise and most to one s spirits the poor little town about us suffered cruelly the cannon balls	34
tore through its slight buildings them as if they had been built of cards and every moment or two one would see a huge rock come through the upper air above the smoke clouds and go plunging down through the roofs fire broke out and columns of flame and smoke rose toward the sky presently the changed the weather the sky became and a strong wind rose and blew away the smoke that hid the sh then the spectacle was fine gray walls and towers and streaming bright flags and of red fire and of white smoke in long rows all standing out with sharp against the deep leaden background of the sky and then the began to knock up the dirt all us and i felt no more interest in the scenery there was one english gun that was getting our position down finer and finer all the time presently pointed to it and said fair duke step out of your tracks or that machine will kill you the duke d did as he was bid but du took his place and that cannon tore his head off in a moment recollections of op arc was watching all along for the right time to order the assault at last about nine o clock she cried out now to the assault r and the blew the charge instantly we saw the body of men that had been appointed to this service move forward toward a point where the concentrated fire of our guns had the upper half of a broad stretch of wall to ruins we saw this force descend into the ditch and begin to plant the we were soon with them the lieutenant general thought the assault e but said ah gentle duke are you afraid do you not know that i have promised to send you home safe it was warm work in the the walls were crowded with men and they of stones down upon us there was one gigantic englishman who did us more hurt than any dozen of his brethren he always the places easiest of assault and down exceedingly troublesome big stones which smashed men and both then he would near burst himself with laughing over what he had done but the duke settled accounts with him he went and the famous le and said train your gun kill me this demon he did it with the first shot he hit the englishman fair in the breast and knocked him backward into the city the enemy s resistance was so effective and so stubborn that people began to show signs of mark twain doubt and dismay seeing this raised her inspiring battle cry and descended into the herself the dwarf helping her and the sticking bravely at her side with the standard she started up a ladder but a great stone flung from above came crashing down upon her and stretched her wounded and upon the but only for a moment the dwarf stood her upon her feet and straightway she started up the ladder again crying to the assault friends to the assault the english are ours it is the appointed hour there was a grand rush and a fierce roar of and we over the like the garrison fled we was ours the earl of was hemmed in and surrounded and the duke d and the of demanded that he surrender himself but he was a proud nobleman and came of a proud race he refused to his sword to saying i will die rather i will surrender to the maid of alone and to no other and so he did and was courteously and used by her his two brothers retreated fighting step by step toward the bridge we pressing their despairing forces and cutting them down by scores arrived on the bridge the slaughter still continued alexander de la pole was pushed overboard or fell over and was drowned eleven hundred men had fallen john de la pole decided to give up the struggle recollections of of arc but he was nearly as proud and particular as his brother of as to whom he would surrender to the french officer nearest at hand was who was pressing him closely sir john said to him are you a gentleman yes and a knight no then sir john him himself there on the bridge giving him the with english coolness and tranquillity in the midst of that storm of slaughter and and then bowing with high courtesy took the sword by the blade and laid the of it in the man s hand in token of surrender ah yes a proud tribe those de la poles it was a grand day a memorable day a most splendid victory we had a crowd of prisoners but would not allow them to be hurt we took them with us and marched into next day through the usual tempest of welcome and joy and this time there was a new tribute to our leader from everywhere in the packed streets the new squeezed their way to her side to touch the sword of of arc and draw from it somewhat of that mysterious quality which made it invincible end of volume i j i signs the list of personal recollections of of arc the louis de and thb original d manuscript in thi national of france vol ii by f v du york and london ft op arc vol ii x and by printed in the united states of america h contents book ll her doom i fierce xxx the red field of france begins to live again the joyous news flies fast s five great deeds the of the the heir of france is crowned hears news from home again to arms the king cries forward we win but the king xl treachery the maid will march no more book iii i the maid in chains ii sold	34
it from p re and that in it it said the children s fairy tree had been down by some or other and i got no further she snatched the letter from hand and searched it up and down and all over turning it this way and that an sobbing great sobs and the tears flowing down her cheeks and all the time oh cruel cruel how could any be so heartless ah poor f e de gone and we children loved it so show me the place where it says it and i still lying showed her the pretended fatal words on the pretended fatal page and she gazed at them through her tears and said she could see herself that they were hateful ugly words they had the very look of it then we heard a strong voice down the corridor announcing his majesty s messenger with for her the commander in chief of the armies of france chapter knew she had seen ike wisdom of the tree but when i could not know doubtless before she had lately told the king to her for that she had but one year left to work in it had not occurred to me at the time but the conviction came upon me now that at that time she had seen the tree it had brought her a welcome message that was plain otherwise she could not have been so joyous and light hearted as she had been these latter days the death warning had nothing dismal about it for her no it was of exile it was leave to come home yes she had seen the tree no one had taken the prophecy to heart which she made to the king and for a good reason no doubt no one wanted to take it to heart all wanted to banish it away and forget it and all had succeeded and would go on to the end placid and comfortable all but me alone i must carry my awful secret without any to help me a heavy load a bitter burden and would cost me a daily she was to die and so soon i had never dreamed of that how could i and she so strong and fresh and young and every day earning a new right to a peaceful and honored old age for at that time i thought old age mark twain able i do not know why but i thought so all young i think it i believe they being ignorant and of she had seen the tree all that miserable night those ancient verses went floating back and forth through my brain and when in exile ring we shall fainting for glimpse of thee oh rise upon our but at dawn the and the drums through the dreamy hush of the morning and it was turn out all and ride for there was red work to be done we marched to without halting there we carried the bridge by assault and left a force to hold it the rest of the army marching away next morning toward where the lion the terror of the french was in command when we arrived at that place the english retired into the castle and we sat down in the abandoned town was not at the moment present in person for he had gone away to watch for and welcome e and his of five thousand men placed her and the castle till night then some news came of france this long time in disgrace with the king largely because of the evil of la and his party was approaching with a large body of men to offer his services to and very much she needed them now that was so dose by had wanted to join us before when we first marched on recollections of op arc but the foolish king slave of those paltry of his warned him to keep his distance and refused all reconciliation with him i go into these details because they are important important because they lead up to the exhibition of a new gift in s extraordinary mental make up it is a sufficiently strange thing to find that great quality in an ignorant country girl of seventeen and a half but she had it was for receiving cordially and so was la hire and the two and other chiefs but the lieutenant general d and opposed it he said he had absolute orders from the king to deny and defy and that if they were he would leave the army this would have been a heavy disaster indeed but set herself the task of persuading him that the salvation of took of all minor things even the commands of a ass and she accomplished it she persuaded him to the king in the interest of the nation and to be reconciled to count and welcome him that was and of the highest and sort whatever thing men great look for it in of arc and there you will find it in the early morning june th the reported the approach of and with s force then the drums beat to arms and we set forth to meet the english leaving and his troops behind to watch the castle of and keep its garrison at home by mark twain and by we came in sight of the enemy had tried to convince that it be wisest to retreat and not risk a battle with at this time but the new among the english of the thus securing them against capture then be patient and wait wait for more from paris let her army with fruitless daily then at the right time fall upon her in mass and her he was a wise old experienced general was but that fierce would hear of no delay he was in a rage over the which the maid had	34
inflicted upon him at and since and he swore by god and saint george that he would have it out with her if he had to fight her all alone so though he said they were now the loss of everything which the english had gained by so many years work and so many hard the enemy had taken up a strong position and were waiting in order of battle with their to the front and a before them night was coming on a messenger came from the english with a rude defiance and an offer of battle but s dignity was not ruffled her bearing was not she said to the herald go back and say it is too late to meet to night but to morrow please god and our lady we will come to dose quarters the night fell dark and rainy it was that sort of light steady rain which falls so softly and brings to one s spirit such serenity and peace about ten recollections of of arc o clock d the of la hire of and two or three other came to our tent and sat down to discuss matters with some thought it was a pity that had declined battle some thought not then asked her why she had declined it she said there was more than one reason these english are ours they cannot get away from us wherefore there is no need to take risks as at other times the day was far spent it is good to have much time and the fair light of day when one s force is in a weakened nine of us yonder keeping the bridge of under the de fifteen with the of france keeping the bridge and watching the castle of said i grieve for this but it cannot be helped and the case will be the same the morrow as to that was walking up and down just then she laughed her affectionate laugh and stopping before that old war tiger she put her small hand above his head and touched one of his saying now tell me wise man which feather is it that i touch in that i cannot name of god you cannot tell me this small thing yet are bold to name a large one telling us what is in the stomach of the mark twain morrow that we shall not have those men now it is my thought that they will be with us that made a stir all wanted to know why she thought that but la hire took the word and said let be if she thinks it that is enough it will happen then of said there were other reasons for declining battle according to the saying of your yes one was that we being weak and the day far gone the battle might not be decisive when it is fought it must be decisive and shall be god grant it and amen there were still other reasons one other yes she hesitated a moment then said this was not the day to morrow is the day it is so written they were going to her with eager but she put up her hand and prevented them then she said it will be the most noble and beneficent victory that god has vouchsafed to france at any time i pray you question me not as to whence or how i know this thing but be content that it is so there was pleasure in every face and conviction and high confidence a murmur of conversation broke out but was interrupted by a messenger from the who brought news namely that for an hour there had been stir and movement in the english camp of a sort unusual at such a time and with a resting army he said had been sent under cover of the rain and darkness to inquire into lo n recollections of op arc it they had just come back and reported that large bodies of men had been dimly made out who were slipping stealthily away in the direction of the were very much surprised as any might tell from their faces it is a retreat said it has that look said d it certainly has observed the and la hire it was not to be expected said de but one can divine the purpose of it yes responded has reflected his rash brain has cooled he thinks to take the bridge of and escape to the other side of the river he knows that this leaves his garrison of at the mercy of fortune to escape our hands if it can but there is no other course if he would avoid this battle and that he also knows but he shall not get the bridge we will see to that yes said d we must follow him and take care ci that matter what of leave to me gentle duke i will have it in two hours and at no cost of blood it is true you will but need to deliver this news there and receive the surrender yes and i will be with you at with the dawn the and his fifteen hundred and when knows that has fallen wm ac effect upon him xi mark twain by the mass yes cried la hire he will join his garrison to his army and break for paris then we shall have our bridge force with us again along with our and be stronger for our great day s work by four hundred able soldiers as was here promised within the verily this englishman is doing our errands for us and saving us much blood and trouble orders give us our orders they are simple let the men rest three hours longer at one o clock the advance guard will march under your command with of as second the second division will follow	34
at two imder the lieutenant general keep well in the rear of the enemy and see to it that you avoid an engagement i will ride guard to and make so quick work there that i and the of france will join you before dawn with his men she kept her word her guard mounted and we rode off through the rain taking with us a english officer to confirm s news we soon covered the journey and summoned the castle richard tin s lieutenant being convinced that he his five hundred men were left helpless that it would be useless to try to hold out he could not expect easy terms yet granted them nevertheless his garrison keep their horses and arms and carry away property to the value of a silver mark per man they could go whither they pleased but la recollections op of arc must not take arms against france again under ten da rs before dawn we were with army again and with us the and nearly all his men for we left only a small garrison in castle we heard the dull of cannon to the front and knew that was beginning his attack on the bridge but some time before it was yet light the ceased and we heard it no more tin had sent a messenger through our lines under a safe conduct given by to tell of the surrender of course this had arrived ahead of us had held it wisdom to turn now and retreat upon paris when daylight came he had disappeared and with him lord scales and the garrison of what a harvest of english we had in three days which had defied france with quite cool confidence and plenty of it we came chapter xxx when the morning broke at last on that forever memorable i th of there was no enemy anywhere as i have said but that did not trouble me i knew we should find him and that we should strike him strike him the promised blow the one from which the power in france would not rise up in a thousand years as had said in her trance the enemy had plunged into the wide plains of i a a waste covered with bushes with here and there bodies of f a region where an army would be hidden from view in a very little while we the trail in the soft wet earth and followed it it indicated an orderly march no confusion no panic but we had to be cautious in such a piece of we could walk into an without any trouble therefore sent bodies of cavalry ahead la hire and other captains to feel the way some of the other officers began to show uneasiness this sort of hide and go seek business troubled them and made their confidence a little divined their state of mind and cried out name of god what would you we must u recollections op op arc these english and we will they shall not escape us though they were to the clouds we would get them by and by we were it was about a league away now at this time our feeling its way in the bush frightened a deer and it went away and was out of sight in a moment then hardly a minute later a dull great shout went up in the distance toward it was the english they had been shut up in garrison so long on food that they could not keep their delight to themselves when this fine fresh meat came springing into their midst poor creature it had wrought damage to a nation which loved it well for the french knew where the english were now whereas the english had no suspicion of where the french were la hire halted where he was and sent back the tidings was radiant with joy the duke d said to her very well we have found them shall we fight them have you good spurs prince why will they make us away en de these english are ours they are lost they will fly who them will need good spurs forward dose up by the time we had come up with la hire the english had discovered our presence s force was marching in three bodies first his advance guard then his then his mark twain corps a good way in the rear he was now out of the bush and in a fair open country he at once posted his his advance guard and five picked along some hedges where the french would be obliged to pass and hoped to hold this position till his battle corps could come up sir john urged the battle corps into a gallop saw her opportunity and ordered la hire to advance which la hire promptly did his wild like a storm wind his customary fashion the duke and the wanted to but said a not wait so they waited impatiently and in their but she was steady gazing straight before her weighing calculating by shades minutes of minutes seconds with all her great present in eye and set of head and noble pose of body but patient steady master of herself master of herself and of the situation and yonder receding receding lifting and falling lifting and falling streamed the charge of la hire s crew la hire s great figure it and his sword stretched aloft like a h satan and his see them go somebody muttered it in deep admiration and now he was closing up closing up on s rushing corps and now he struck it struck it hard and broke i recollections op of arc its order it lifted the duke and the in their to see it and they trembling with excitement to saying but she put up her hand	34
still gazing weighing calculating and said again not yet s hard driven battle corps raged on like an toward the waiting advance guard suddenly these conceived the idea that it was flying in panic before and so in that instant it broke and away in a mad panic itself with and cursing after it now was the golden time drove her spurs home and waved the advance with her sword follow me she cried and bent her head to her horse s neck and sped away like the wind we swept down into the confusion of that fl and for three long hours we cut and and at last the sang halt the battle of was won of arc dismounted and stood that field lost in thought presently she said the praise is to god he has smitten with a heavy hand this day after a little she lifted her face and looking afar off said with the manner of one who is thinking aloud in a thousand years sl thousand years the english power in france will not rise up from this blow she stood again a time thinking then she turned toward her and there was a glory in her face and a noble light in her eye and she said ii mark twain i i oh friends friends do you know do you comprehend france is on the way to be f and had never been but for of arc said la hire passing before her and bowing low the others following and doing likewise he muttering as he went i will say it though i be damned for it then after of our victorious army swung by wildly cheering and they shouted live forever maid of forever while smiling stood at the salute with her sword this was not the last time i saw the maid of on the red field of toward the end of the day i came n her where the dead and lay stretched all about in heaps and our men had wounded an english prisoner who was too poor to pay a and from a distance she had seen that cruel thing done and had galloped to the place and sent for a priest and now she was holding the head of her dying enemy in her lap and him to his death with comforting soft words just as his sister might have done and the womanly tears running down her face all the time lord of arc p says discovered this story in the of of arc s page louis de who was probably an eye witness of the scene this is true it was a part of the testimony of the author of these personal recollections of of arc given by him in the proceedings of chapter had said true france was on the way to be free the war called the hundred years war was very sick to day sick on its english side for the very first time since its birth ninety one years gone by shall we judge battles by the numbers killed and the ruin wrought or shall we not rather judge them by the results which flowed from then i any one will say that a battle is only truly great or small according to its results yes any one will grant that for it is the truth judged by results s place is with the few great and imposing battles that have been fought since the of the world first resorted to arms for the settlement of their quarrels so judged it is even possible that has no peer among that few just mentioned but stands alone as the of historic for when it began france lay gasping out the remnant of an exhausted life her case wholly hopeless in the view of all political when it ended three hours later she was and nothing requisite but time and ordinary nursing to bring her back to perfect health the physician of them all could see this and there was none to deny it mark twain many death sick nations have reached through a series of battles a procession of battles a weary tale of wasting stretching over years but only one has reached it in a single day and by a single battle that nation is france and that battle remember it and be proud of it for you are french and it is the fact in the long annals of your country there it stands with its head in the clouds and when you grow up you will go on pilgrimage to the field of and stand uncovered in the presence of what a monument with its head in the clouds yes for all nations in all times have built monuments on their battle fields to keep green the memory of the deed that was wrought there and of the name of him who wrought it and will neglect and of arc not for long and will she build a to their rank as compared with the world s other fields and heroes perhaps if there be room for it imder the arch of the sky but let us look back a little and consider certain strange and impressive facts the years war began in it raged on and on year after year and year after year and at last england stretched france prone with that fearful blow at cr but she rose and struggled on year after year and at last again she went down another blow she gathered her crippled strength once more and the war raged on and on and still on year after year after children were bom grew up married died the recollections of of arc war raged on their children in turn grew up married died the war raged on their children growing saw struck down again this time imder the incredible disaster of	34
and still the war raged on year after year and in time these children married in their was a wreck a ruin a desolation the half of it belonged to england with none to dispute or deny the truth the other half belonged to nobody in three months be fl the english flag the king was making ready to throw away his crown and flee beyond the seas now came the ignorant country maid out of her remote village and confronted this war this all that had swept the land for three generations then began the and most amazing campaign that is recorded in history in seven weeks it was finished in seven weeks she hopelessly crippled that gigantic war that was years old at she struck it a staggering blow on the field of she broke its back think of it yes one can do that but understand it ah that is another matter none will ever be able to comprehend that marvel seven weeks with here and there a little perhaps the most of it in any single fight at where the english began six thousand strong and left two thousand dead upon the field it is said and believed that in three battles alone cr and near a hundred thousand fell without the thousand other fights of that long war the dead of that mark twain war make a long list an interminable list of men slain in the field the goes by of thousands of innocent women and children slain by bitter hardship and hunger it goes by that appalling term millions it was an that war an that went about for near a years men and dripping blood from his jaws and with her little hand that child of seventeen struck him down and yonder he lies stretched on the field of and will not get up any more while this old world lasts chapter the great news of was carried over the whole of in twenty hours people said i do not know as to that but one thing is sure anyway the moment a man got it he flew shouting and god and told his neighbor and that neighbor flew with it to the next and so on and so on without resting the word and when a man got it in the night at what hour he jumped out of his bed and bore the blessed message along and the joy that went with it was like the light that flows across the land when an is receding from the face of the sim and indeed you may say that france had lain in an this long time yes buried in a black gloom which these beneficent tidings were sweeping away now before the of their white splendor the news beat the flying enemy to an the town rose against its english masters and shut the gates against their brethren it flew to to saint and to this that and the other english fortress and straightway the garrison applied the torch and took to the fields and the woods a of army occupied and it when we reached that town was as much mark twain as fifty times with joy than we had ever seen it before which is saying much night had just fallen and the were on so wonderful a scale that we seemed to through seas of fire and as to the noise the hoarse cheering of the multitude the thundering of cannon the clash of bells indeed there was never an like it and everywhere rose a new cry that burst upon us like a storm when the column entered the gates and ceased welcome to of arc way for the op france and there another cry cr is is t is shall live forever mad why you never could imagine it in the world the prisoners were in the of the column when that came along and the people caught sight of their old enemy that had made them dance so long to his grim you may imagine what the uproar was like if you can for i cannot describe it they were so glad to see him that presently they wanted to have him out and hang him so had him brought up to the front to ride in her protection they made a striking pair chapter yes was in a delirium of felicity she invited the king and made preparations to receive him but he didn t come he was simply a at that time and la was his master master and were visiting together at the master s castle of sur at had engaged to bring about a reconciliation between the and the king she took to and made her promise good the great deeds of of arc are five the raising of the siege the victory of the reconciliation at sur the of the king the march we shall come to the march presently and the it was the victorious long march which made through the enemy s country from to and thence to the gates of paris every town and fortress that barred the road from the beginning of the journey to the end of it and this by the mere force of her name and without shedding a drop of blood perhaps the most extraordinary campaign in this mark twain l regard in history this is the most glorious of her military exploits the reconciliation was one of s most important achievements no one else could have accomplished it and in fact no one else of high consequence had any disposition to try in brains in scientific warfare and in the was the man in his loyalty was sincere his was above suspicion and it made him sufficiently conspicuous in that trivial and court in restoring to france made thoroughly secure the successful completion of the great work	34
which she had begun she had never seen he came to her with his little army was it not that at a glance she should know him for the one man who could finish and perfect her work and establish it in how was it that that child was able to do this it was because she had the seeing eye as one of our knights had once said yes she had that great gift almost the highest and that has been granted to man nothing of an extraordinary sort was still to be done yet the remaining work could not safely be left to the king s for it would require wise and long and patient though of the enemy now and then for a quarter of a century yet there would be a little fighting to do and a handy man could carry that on with small disturbance to the rest of the country and little by little and with certainty the english would disappear from recollections of op arc and that happened under the influence of the king became at a later time a man a man a king a brave and capable and determined soldier within six years after he was leading parties himself fighting in fortress up to his waist in water and climbing under a furious fire with a pluck that would have satisfied even of arc in time he and cleared away all the english even from regions where the people had been under their for three hundred years in such regions wise and careful work was necessary for the english rule had been fair and kindly and men who have been ruled in that way are not always anxious for a change which of s five chief deeds shall we call chief est it is my thought that each in its turn was that this is that taken as a whole they each other and neither was then greater than its mate do you perceive each was a stage in an ascent to leave out one of them would defeat the journey to achieve one of them at the wrong time and in the wrong place would have the same effect consider the as a of where can you find its superior in our history did the king suspect its vast importance no did his ministers no did the representative of the english crown no an advantage of importance was here under the eyes of the king and of the king could get it by a bold stroke could mark twain get it without an effort but being ignorant of its value neither of them put forth his hand of all the wise people in high office in france only one knew the worth of this neglected prize the child of seventeen of arc and she had known it from the b had spoken of it from the beginning as an essential detail of her mission how did she know it it is simple she was a peasant that tells the whole story she was of the i and knew the people those others moved in a sphere and knew nothing much about them we make little account of that vague mass that mighty force which we call the people an epithet which carries contempt with it it is a strange attitude for at bottom we know that the throne which the people support stands and that when that support is removed nothing in this world can save it now then consider this fact and observe its importance whatever the parish priest believes his flock believes they love him they him he is their friend their protector their in sorrow their in their day of need he has their whole confidence what he tells them to do that they will do with a blind and affectionate obedience let it cost what it may add these facts thoughtfully together and what is the sum this the parish priest the nation what is the king then if the parish priest withdraw his support and deny his authority merely a shadow and no king let him resign recollections of of arc do you get that idea then let us proceed a priest is consecrated to his office by the awful hand of god laid upon him by his appointed representative on earth that is final nothing can undo it nothing can remove it neither the pope nor any other power can strip the priest of his office god gave it and it is forever sacred and secure the dull parish knows all this to priest and parish whatsoever is of god bears an office whose authority can no longer be disputed or assailed to the parish priest and to his subjects the nation an king is a of a person who has been named for holy orders but has not been consecrated he has no he has not been ordained another may be in his place in a word an king is a doubtful king but if god int him and his servant the bishop him the doubt is the priest and the parish are his loyal subjects straightway and while he lives they will recognize no king but him to of arc the peasant girl charles vii was no king until he was crowned to her he was only the that is to say the heir if i have ever made her call him king it was a mistake she called him the and nothing else after the it shows you as in a mirror for was a mirror in which the lowly hosts of were clearly reflected that to all that vast force called the people he was no king but only before his crowning and was and king after it mark twain now you understand what a colossal move on the political board the was realized this by and by and tried to patch up	34
for poor common soldiers when they were come nearer what do you think every rascal of them had a french prisoner on his back they were carrying away their goods you see their property strictly according to the permission granted by the treaty now think how that was how ingenious what could a body say what could a body do for certainly these people were within their right these prisoners were property nobody could deny that my if those had been english conceive of the richness of that for english prisoners had been scarce and precious for a years whereas it was a different matter with french prisoners they had been over for a recollections of of arc the possessor of a french prisoner did not hold him long for as a but killed him to save the cost of his keep this shows you how small was the value of such a possession in those times when we took a calf was worth thirty a sheep sixteen a french prisoner eight it was an enormous price for those other animals a price which naturally seems incredible to you it was the war you see it worked two ways it made meat dear and prisoners cheap well here were these poor being carried oflf what could we do very little of a permanent sort but we did what we could we sent a messenger flying to and we and the french guards halted the procession for a to gain time you see a big lost his temper and swore a great oath that none should stop him he would go and would take his prisoner with him but we blocked him c and he saw that he was mistaken about going he t do it he exploded into the and then and his prisoner from his back stood him up all bound and helpless then drew his knife and said to us with a light of sarcastic triumph in his eye i may not carry him away you say yet he is mine none will dispute it since i may not convey him hence this property of mine there is another way yes i can kill him not even the among you will question that right ah you had not thought of that that poor starved fellow begged us with his piteous mark twain eyes to save him then spoke and said he had a wife and little children at home think how it wrung our but what could we do the was within his right we could only beg and plead for the prisoner which we did and the enjoyed it he stayed his hand to hear more of it and laugh at it that stung then the dwarf said young let me him for when a matter requiring persuasion is to the i have indeed a gift in that sort as any will teu you that know me well you smile and that is punishment for my vanity and fairly earned i grant it you still if i may toy a little just a little saying which he stepped to the and began a fair soft speech all of goodly and gentle tenor and in the midst he mentioned the maid and was going on to say how she out of her good heart would prize and praise this compassionate deed which he was about to it was as far as he got hie burst into his smooth with an insult at of arc we sprang forward but the dwarf his face all livid blushed us aside and said in a most and earnest way i your patience am not i her guard of honor this is my affair and saying this he suddenly shot his right hand out and the great by the throat and so held him upright on his feet you have insulted the maid he said and the maid is the tongue that does that a long recollections op of arc one heard the muffled of bones the s eyes began to from their and stare with a leaden at the color deepened in his face and became an purple his hands hung down limp his body with a shiver every muscle relaxed its and ceased from its function the dwarf took away his hand and the of sank to the we struck the bonds from the prisoner and told him he was free his crawling changed to frantic joy in a moment and his ghastly fear to a childish rage he flew at that dead corpse and kicked it in its face danced upon it crammed mud into its mouth laughing and forth and like a drunken it was a thing to be expected makes few saints many of the laughed others were indifferent none was surprised but presently in his mad the freed man within reach of the waiting file and another promptly slipped a knife through his neck and down he went with a death shriek his brilliant blood ten feet as straight and bright as a ray of light there was a great burst of jolly laughter all around from friend and foe alike and thus closed one of the incidents of my military life and now came hurrying and deeply troubled she considered the of the garrison then said you have right upon your side it is plain it mark twain was a ess word to put in the treaty and covers too much but ye may not take these poor men away they are french and i will not have it the king shall them every one wait till i send you word from him and hurt no hair of their heads for i tell you i who speak that that would cost you very dear that settled it the prisoners were safe for one while anyway then she rode back eagerly and required that thing of the king	34
and this was proof that she was a so claimed that unjust as we drew near the city the long sweep of and towers was gay with fluttering flags and black with masses of people and all the air was with the crash of and with drifting clouds of smoke we entered the gates in state and moved in procession through the recollections of of arc city with all the and in holiday costume marching in rear with their and all the route was with a crush of people and all the windows were and all the roofs and from the hung costly of rich colors and the waving of handkerchiefs seen in perspective through a long vista was like a s name had been introduced into the prayers of the church an honor to but she had a dearer honor and an honor more to be proud of from a source the common people had had leaden struck which bore her and her and these they wore as charms one saw them everywhere from the s palace where we halted and where the king and were to lodge the king sent to the abbey church of st which was over toward the gate by which we had entered the city the or of holy oil this was not earthly oil it was made in heaven the also the with the oil in it was brought down from heaven by a dove it was sent down to st just as he was going to king who had become a christian i know this to be true i had known it long before for told me in i cannot tell you how strange and awful it made me feel when i saw that and knew i was looking with toy own eyes upon a thing which had actually been in heaven a thing which had been seen by angels and by god himself of a certainty for mark twain he sent it and i was looking upon it i at one time i could have touched it but i was afraid for i not know but that god had touched it it is most probable that he had this had been and from it all the kings of france had been since yes ever since the time of and that was nine years and so as i have said that of holy oil was sent for while we waited a without that would not have been a at all in my belief now in order to get the a most ancient had to be gone through with otherwise the of st hereditary guardian in of the oil would not deliver it so in accordance with custom the king five great to ride in solemn state and richly armed and they and their to the abbey church as a guard of honor to the of and his who were to bear the king s demand for the oil when the five great lords were ready to start they knelt in a row and put up their hands before their faces palm joined to palm and swore upon their lives to conduct the sacred vessel safely and safely restore it again to the ch of st after the of the king the and his nobly escorted took their way to st the was in grand costume with his on his head and his cross in his hand at the door of st they halted and formed to receive the holy soon one heard the deep tones of the recollections op of arc organ and of men then one saw a long file of lights approaching through the dim church and so came the in his bearing the with his people following after he delivered it with solemn ceremonies to the then the march back began and it was most impressive for it moved the whole way between two multitudes of men and women who lay flat upon their faces and prayed in dumb silence and in dread while that awful thing went by that had been in heaven this august company arrived at the great west door of the cathedral and as the entered a noble rose and filled the vast building the cathedral was packed with people people in thousands only a wide space down the had been kept free down this space walked the and his and after them followed those five stately es in splendid harness each bearing his banner and riding i oh that was a magnificent thing to see riding down the of the building through the rich lights streaming in long rays from the pictured windows oh there was never anything so grand they rode dear to the choir as much as four hundred feet from the door it was said then the dismissed them and they made deep till their touched their horses necks then made those proud and and dancing go backward all the way to the door which was pretty to see and graceful mark twain then they stood them on their hind feet and spun them around and plunged away ind disappeared for some minutes there was a deep hush a waiting pause a silence so profound that it was as if all those packed thousands were in slumber why you could even notice the faintest sounds like the drowsy of insects then came a mighty flood of rich strains from four hundred silver trumpets and then framed in the pointed of the great west door appeared and the king they advanced slowly side by side through a tempest of welcome explosion after explosion of cheers and cries mingled with the deep of the organ and rolling tides of song from behind and the king came the with the banner displayed and a majestic figure he was and most proud and lofty in his bearing for he knew that the people were	34
marking him and taking note of the gorgeous state dress which covered his at his side was the d for the of bearing the sword of state after these in order of rank came a body attired representing the lay of it consisted of three princes of the blood and i a and the young de brothers these were followed by the representatives of the the of and the of ch and one other behind these came the grand staff all our great and famous names and everybody was eager recollections of op arc to get a sight of them through all the din one hear shouts all along that told you where two of them were live the of satan la hire forever the august procession reached its appointed place in and the of the began they were long and imposing with rs and and sermons and everything that is right for such occasions and was at the king s side all these hours with her standard in her hand but at last came the grand act the king took the oath he was with the sacred oil a splendid personage followed by train and other attendants approached bearing the crown of upon a cushion and kneeling offered it the king seemed to hesitate in fact did hesitate for he put out his hand and then stopped with it there in the air over the crown the fingers in the attitude of taking hold of it but that was for only a moment though a moment is a notable something when it stops the heart beat of twenty thousand people and makes them catch their breath yes only a moment then he caught s eye and she gave him a look with all the joy of her thankful soul in it then he smiled and took the crown of france in his hand and right finely and right lifted it up and set it upon his head then what a crash there all about us cries and cheers and the of the and groaning of the organ and outside the of the bells and the of the cannon the fantastic the incredible dream the mark twain impossible dream of the peasant child stood f the english power was broken the heir of was crowned she was like one so divine was the joy that shone in her face as she sank to her knees at the king s feet and looked up at him through her tears her were quivering and her words came soft and low and broken now o gentle king is the pleasure of god accomplished according to his command that you should come to and receive the crown that of right to you and unto none other my work which was given me to do is finished give me your peace and let me go back to my mother who is poor and old and has need of me the king raised her up and there before all that host he praised her great deeds in most noble terms and there he confirmed her nobility and titles making her the equal of a count in rank and also appointed a household and officers for her according to her dignity and then he said you have saved the crown speak require demand and whatsoever grace you ask it shall be granted though it make the kingdom poor to meet it now that was fine that was royal was on her knees again straightway and said then o gentle king if out of your compassion you will speak the word i pray you give that my village poor and hard pressed by reason of the war may have its taxes it is so commanded say on that is au recollections op op arc all nothing but that it is all i have no other desire but that is nothing less than nothing ask do not be afraid indeed i cannot gentle king do not press me i will not have aught else but only this alone the king seemed and stood still a moment as if trying to comprehend and realize the stature of this strange then he raised his head and said she has won a kingdom and crowned its king and all she asks and all she will take is this poor grace and even this is for others not for herself and it is well her act being to the dignity of one who carries in her head and heart riches which any that any add though he gave his all she shall have her way now therefore it is that from this day forth village of of arc of france called the maid of is freed from all forever the silver horns blew a blast there you see she had had a vision of this very scene the time she was in a trance in the pastures of and we asked her to name the boon she would demand of the king if he should ever chance to tell her she might claim one but whether she had the vision or not this act showed that after all the dizzy that had come upon her she was still the same simple unselfish creature that she was that day yes charles vii those forever ii mark twain often the gratitude of kings and nations and their promises fu e forgotten or deliberately but you who are children of should remember with pride that has kept this one faithfully sixty three years have gone by since that day the taxes of the region wherein lies have been collected sixty three times since then and all the villages of that region have paid except that one the tax never visits has long ago forgotten what that dread sorrow apparition is like sixty three tax books have been filled meantime and tliey lie yonder with the other	34
public records and any may se them that desire it at the top of every page in the sixty three books stands the name of a village and below that name its weary of is figured out and displayed in the case of all save one it is true just as i tell you in each of the three books there is a page headed but under that name not a figure appears where the figures should be there are three words written and the same words have been written every year for all these years yes it is a blank page with always those grateful words across the face of it a touching memorial thus la i m k recollections of of arc nothing the maid of how brief it is yet how much i t says it is the nation speaking you have the spectacle of that thing a government making reverence to that name and saying to its agent and pass on it is france that commands yes the promise has been kept it will be kept always forever was the king s word at two o clock in the afternoon the of the came at last to an end then the procession formed once more with and the king at its head and took up its solemn through the midst of the church all instruments and all people making such of rejoicing noises as was indeed a marvel to hear and so ended the third of the great days of s life and how close together they stand may th june i th july th it was faithfully kept during three hundred and sixty years and more then the over confident s prophecy failed during the tumult of the french revolution w forgotten and the grace withdrawn it has remained in ever since never asked to be remembered but has remembered her with an love and reverence never asked for a statue but france has them upon her never asked for a church for but is building one never asked for but even that is impending everything which of arc did not ask for has given her nd with a noble profusion but the one humble little thing i she did ask for and get has been taken away from her there is something infinitely pathetic about this france a hundred years of tastes and could hardly find a citizen within her borders who would vote against the payment of the debt note bt chapter we mounted and rode a spectacle to remember a most noble display of rich and nodding and as we moved between the multitudes they sank down all along abreast of us as we advanced like grain before the and kneeling hailed with a rousing welcome the consecrated king and his companion the of france but by and by when we had about the chief parts of the city and were come near to the end of our course we being now approaching the s palace one saw on the right hard by the inn that is called the a strange thing two men not kneeling but standing i standing in the front rank of the staring yes and clothed in the coarse garb of the these two two sprang at them in a fury to teach them better manners but just as they seized them cried out forbear and slid from her saddle and flung her arms about one of those calling him by all manner of names and sobbing for it was her father and the other was her the news flew everywhere and shouts of welcome were raised and in just one little moment those two despised and unknown were become famous recollections op of arc and popular and envied and everybody was in a fever to get sight of them and be able to say all their lives long that they had seen the father of of arc and the brother of her mother how easy it was for her to do miracles uke to this she was uke the on whatsoever dim and humble object her rays fell that thing was straightway drowned in glory all graciously the king said bring them to me and she brought them she radiant with happiness and affection they trembling and scared with their caps in their hands and there before all the world the king gave them his hand to kiss while the people gazed in envy and admiration and he said to old d arc give god thanks for that you are father to this child this of you who bear a name that will still live in the mouths of men when all the race of kings has been forgotten it is not meet that you bare head before the fleeting and of a day cover yourself and truly he looked right fine and when he said that then he gave order that the of be brought and when he was come and stood bent low and bare the king said to him these two are guests of france and bade him use them i may as well say now as later that papa d arc and were stopping in that little inn and that there they remained finer quarters were offered them by the also public distinctions mark twain and brave entertainment but they were frightened at these they being only humble and so they begged os and had peace th y could not have enjoyed such things they did not even know what to do with their hands and it took all their attention to keep from treading on them the did the best he could in the circumstances he made the place a whole floor at their disposal and told him to provide everything they might desire and charge all to the city also the gave them a horse apiece which so overwhelmed them with and delight and	34
no only two to raise the of and crown the king at the task is finished i am free has ever a poor soldier fallen in my sight whether friend of and i not felt his pain in my own body and the grief of his home in my own heart no not one and oh it i such bliss to know that my release is won and that i shall not any more see these cruel things or suffer these of the mind again then why should i not go to my village and be as i was before it is heaven i and ye wonder that i desire it ah ye are just men my mother would understand they didn t quite know what to say so ihey sat still awhile looking pretty vacant then old d arc said yes your mother that is true never saw such a woman she and and and wakes nights and lies so thinking that is worrying worrying about you and when the night storms go raging along she and says ah god pity her she is out in this with her poor wet soldiers and when the lightning and the thunder she her hands and saying it is like the awful and the flash and yonder somewhere she is riding down upon the guns and i not there to protect her ah poor mother it is pity it is pity yes a most strange woman as i have noticed a many times when there is news of a victory recollections op of arc and all the village goes mad with pride and joy she rushes here and there in a till she finds out the one only thing she to know that you are safe then down she goes on her knees in the dirt and praises god as long as there is any breath left in her body and all on your account for she never the battle once and always she says new it is over france is saved now she will come home and always is disappointed and goes about mourning don t it breaks my heart i will be so good to her when i get home i will do her work for her and be her comfort and she shall not suffer any more through me there was some more talk of this sort then said you have done the will of god and are it is tn e and none may deny it but what of the king you are his best soldier what if he command you to stay that was a and sudden it took a moment or two to recover from the shock of it then she said quite simply and the king is my lord i am his servant she was silent and thoughtful a little while then she brightened up and said cheerily but let us drive such thoughts away this is no time for them tell me about home so the two old talked and talked talked about everything and everybody in the village and it was good to hear out of her kindness tried to get us into the conversation but that failed of s mark twain she was the commander in chief we were her name was the in france we were invisible she was the comrade of princes and heroes we of the and obscure she held rank above all personages and all whatsoever in the whole earth by right of bearing her commission direct from god to put it in one word she was of arc and when that is said all is said to us she was divine between her and us lay the abyss which that word we could not be familiar with her no you can see yourselves that that would have been impossible and yet she was so human too and so good and kind and dear and loving and cheery and charming and and unaffected those are all the words i think of now but they are not enough no they are too few and and to tell it all or tell the half those simple old men didn t realize her they couldn t they had never known any people but human beings and so they had no other standard to measure her by to them after their first little shyness had worn off she was just a girl that was all it was amazing it made one shiver sometimes to see how calm and easy and comfortable they were in her presence and hear them talk to her exactly as they would have talked to any other girl in why that simple old sat up there and out the most tedious and empty tale one ever heard and neither he nor papa d arc ever gave a thought to the of the etiquette of it or ever recollections of of arc suspected that that foolish tale was anything but dignified and valuable history there was not an of value in it and whilst they thought it distressing and pathetic it was in fact not pathetic at all but actually ridiculous at least it seemed so to me and it seems so yet indeed i know it was because it made laugh and the more sorrowful it got the more it made her laugh and the said that he could have laughed himself if she had not been there and n i said the same it was about old going to a funeral there at two or three weeks back he had spots all over his face and hands and he got to rub some healing on them and while she was doing it and comforting him and trying to say pitying things to him he told her how it happened and first he asked her if she remembered that black bull calf that she left behind when	34
she came away and she said indeed she did and he was a dear and she loved him so and was he well and just drowned him in questions about that and he said it was a young bull now and very and he was to bear a principal hand at a and she said the bull and he said no myself but said the bull did take a hand but not because of his being invited for he wasn t but anyway he was away over beyond the fairy tree and fell asleep on the grass with his sunday clothes on and a long black rag on his hat and hanging down his back and when he woke he saw by the sim how late it was and not a moment to lose and up terribly worried mark twain and saw the bull there thought maybe he could ride part way on him and gain time so he tied a the d body to hold on by and put a on him to steer with and jumped on and started but it was all new to the bull and he was with it and and and and and was satisfied and wanted to get off and go by the next bull or some way that was but he didn t dare try and it was getting very warm for him too arid disturbing and wearisome and not proper for sunday but by and by the bull lost all his temper and went down the slope with his in the air and in the most awful way and just in the edge of the village he knocked down some and the bees turned out and the excursion and along in a black that neatly hid those other two from sight and them both and them and them and them and them and shriek and shriek and w and here they came roaring the village like a and took the procession right in the and sent that section of it and galloped it and the rest scattered apart and fled in every direction every person with a of bees on him and not a rag of that left but the corpse and finally the bull broke for the river and jumped in and when they out he was nearly drowned and his face looked like a with in it and then he turned this old and looked a recollections of of arc long time in a dazed way at where she had her face in a cushion apparently and says what do you reckon she is laughing at and old d arc stood looking at her the same way sort of scratching his head but had to give it up and said he didn t r must have been something that happened when we weren t noticing yes both of those old people thought that that tale was pathetic whereas to my mind it was ly ridiculous nd not in any way valuable to any one it seemed so to me then and it seems so to me yet and as for history it does not resemble history for the office of history is to furnish serious and im port t facts that teach whereas this strange and useless event teaches nothing nothing that can see except not to ride a to a funeral and reflecting person needs to be taught that chapter now these were you know by decree of the king these precious old but they did not realize it they could not be called conscious of it it was an abstraction a phantom to them it had no substance their minds could not take hold of it no they did not bother about their nobility they in their horses the horses were solid they were visible facts and would make a mighty stir in presently something was said about the and old d arc said it was going to be a grand thing to be able to say when they got home that they were present in the very town itself when it happened looked troubled and said ah that reminds me you were here and you didn t send me word in the town indeed why you could have sat with the other and been welcome and could have looked upon the crowning itself and carried that home to tell ah why did you use me so and send me no word the old father was embarrassed now quite visibly embarrassed and had the air of one who does not quite know what to say but was looking up in his face her hands upon his shoulders waiting he had to speak so presently he drew her to his recollections op of arc breast which was heaving with emotion and he said getting out his words with difficulty there hide your face child and let your old father humble himself and make his confession i i don t you see don t you understand i could not know that these would not turn your young head it would be only al i might shame you before these great per father and then i was afraid as remembering that cruel thing i said once in my sinful anger oh appointed of god to be a soldier and the greatest in the land and in my ignorant anger i said i would drown you with my own hands if you yourself and brought shame to your name and family ah how could i ever have said it and you so good and dear and innocent i was afraid for i was guilty you it now my child and you forgive do you see even that poor groping old land with his skull full of had pride isn t it wonderful and more he had conscience he had a sense of right and wrong such as it was he was	34
able to feel remorse it looks impossible it looks incredible but it is not i believe that some day it will be out that are people yes beings in a great many respects uke ourselves and i believe that some day they will find this out too and then well then i think they will rise up and demand to be regarded as part of the race and that by consequence there will be trouble whenever one sees in a book or in a king s those words the nation they bring before mark twain us the upper classes only those we know no other nation for us and the no other nation but from the day that i saw old d arc the peasant acting and feeling just as i should have acted and felt myself i have carried the conviction in my heart that our i are not merely animals beasts of burden put here by the good god to produce food and comfort for the nation but something more and better you look incredulous well that is your training it is the training of everybody but as for me i thank that incident for giving me a better light and i have never forgotten it let me see where was i one s mind around here and there and yonder when one is old i think i said comforted him certainly that is what she would do there was no need to say that she him and him and him and laid the memory of that old hard speech of his to rest laid it to rest she should be dead then he would remember it again yes lord how those things sting and bum and the things which we did against the innocent dead and we say in our anguish if they only come back which is all very well to say but as far as i can see it doesn t profit in my opinion the best way is not to do the thing in the first place and i am not alone in this i have heard our two knights say the same thing and a man there in no i believe it was at or one of those places it seems more as if it was at than the others this man said the recollections op op arc same thing exactly almost the same words a dark man with a cast in his eye and one leg shorter than the other his name was was it is singular that i can t call that man s name i had it in my mind only a moment ago and i know it begins with no i don t remember what it begins with but never mind let it go i will think of it presently and then i will tell you well pretty soon the old father wanted to know how felt when she was in the thick of a battle with the bright blades and flashing all around her and the blows and on her shield and blood on her from the ghastly face and broken teeth of the neighbor at her elbow and the perilous sudden back of horses upon a person when the front ranks give way before a heavy rush of the enemy and men tumble limp and groaning out of all and battle flags falling from dead hands wipe across one s face and hide the tossing a moment and in the and ring and laboring one s horse s hoofs sink into soft and shrieks of pain respond and presently panic rush swarm flight and death and hell following after and the old fellow got ever so much excited and strode up and down his tongue going like a mill asking question after question and never waiting for an answer and finally he stood up in the middle of the room and stepped off and her and said no i don t understand it you are so little so little and when you had mark twain on to day it gave one a sort of notion of it but in these pretty and you are only a dainty page not a league war moving in clouds and darkness and breathing smoke and thunder i would god i might see you at it and go tell your mother that would help her sleep poor thing here teach me the arts of the soldier that i may explain them to her and she did it she gave him a and put him through the manual of arms and made him do the steps too his marching was awkward and and so was his with the but he didn t know it and was wonderfully pleased with himself and excited and charmed with the ringing crisp words of command i am obliged to say that if looking proud and happy when one is marching were sufficient he would have been the perfect soldier and he wanted a lesson in sword play and got it but of course that was beyond him he was too old it was beautiful to see handle the but the old man was a bad failure he was afraid of the things and and and scrambled around like a woman who has lost her mind on of the arrival of a bat he was of no good as an exhibition but if la hire had only come in that would have been another matter those two often i saw them many times true was easily his master but it made a good show for all that for la hire was a grand what a swift was you would see her standing erect with her ankle bones together and her foil recollections of of arc arched over her head the in one hand and the button in the other the old general opposite	34
bent forward left hand on his back his foil advanced slightly and his watching eye straight into hers and all of a sudden she would give a spring forward and back again and there she was with the foil arched over her head as before la hire had been hit but all that the spectator saw of it was a something like a thin flash of light in the air but nothing distinct nothing definite we kept the moving for that would please the and the landlord and old and d arc got to feeling quite comfortable but without being what you could call they got out the presents which they had been buying to carry home humble things and cheap but they would be fine there and welcome and they gave to a present from and one from her mother the one a little leaden image of the holy virgin the other half a yard of blue silk ribbon and she was as pleased as a child and touched too as one could see plainly enough yes she kissed those poor things over and over again as if they had been something costly and wonderful and she pinned the virgin on her and sent for her and tied the ribbon on that first one way then another then a new way then another new way and with each effort the on her hand and holding it off this way and that and her head to one side and then the other examining the effect as a bird does when it has got a new and she mark twain said she could almost wish she was going to the wars again for then she would fight with the better courage as having always with her something which her mother s touch had blessed old said he hoped she would go to the wars again but home first for that all the people there were cruel anxious to see and so he went on they are proud of you dear yes than any village ever was of anybody before and indeed it is right and rational for it is the first time a village has ever had anybody like you to be proud of and call its own and it is strange and beautiful how they try to give name to every creature that has a sex that is convenient it is but half a year since you began to be spoken of and left us and so it is surprising to see how many babies there are already in that region that are named for you first it was just then it was then and now the next ones will have a lot of towns and the added of course yes and the animals the same they know how you love animals and so they try to do you honor and show their love for you by all those creatures after you that if a body should step out and call of arc come there would be a of cats and all such things each supposing it was the one wanted and all willing to take the benefit of the doubt for the sake of the food that might be on delivery the you left behind the last you fetched home bears your name now recollections of of arc and belongs to p re and is the pet and pride of the village and people have come miles to look at it and pet it and stare at it and wonder over it because it was of arc s cat everybody will tell you that and one day when a stranger threw a stone at it not knowing it was your cat the village se against him as one man and hanged and but for p re there was an interruption it was a messenger om the bearing a note for which i read to her saying he had reflected and had consulted his other and was obliged to ask her to remain at the head of the army and withdraw her resignation also would she come immediately and attend a council of war straightway at a little distance military commands and the of drums broke on the still night and we knew that her guard was approaching deep disappointment clouded her face for just one moment and no more it passed and with it the girl and she was of arc chief again and ready for duty chapter in my double quality of page and i followed to the council she entered that presence with the bearing of a grieved goddess what was become of the child that so lately was enchanted with a ribbon and with laughter over the of a foolish peasant who had a funeral on the back of a bee stung bull one may not guess simply it was gone and had left no sign she moved straight to the and stood her glance swept from face to face there and where it fell these it lit as with a torch those it as with a brand she knew where to strike she indicated the with a nod and said my business is not with you you have not a of war then she turned toward the king s and continued no it is with you a council of war it is amazing there is but one thing to do and only one and lo ye call a council of war of war have no value but to decide between two or several doubtful courses but a council of war when there is only one course conceive of a man in a boat and his family in the water and he goes out among his friends to ask what he would better do a council of war name of god to what recollections op op arc she stopped and turned till her eyes rested upon the face of	34
same breed as those others with the same fears the same the same weaknesses the same disposition to see the heavy hand of god descending upon them we have but to march on the instant and they are ours paris is ours france is ours give the word o my king command your servant to stay cried the it would be madness to put this upon his the duke of by the treaty which we have every hope to make with him oh the treaty which we hope to make with him he has scorned you for years and defied you is it your subtle that have softened his manners and him to to proposals no it was blows i the blows which we gave him that is the only teaching that that sturdy rebel can understand what does he care for the treaty which we hope to make with him he deliver paris there is no in the land that is less able to do it he deliver paris ah but that would make great smile oh the pitiful pretext the blind can see that this thin with its fifteen day has no purpose but to give time to forward his forces against us more treachery always treachery we call a council of war with nothing to council about but calls no to teach him what our one course is he knows what he would mark twain do in our place he would hang his and march upon o gentle king rouse i the way is open paris france speak and we it is madness sheer madness your we cannot we must not go back from what we done we proposed to treat we must treat with the of and we said ah how at ihe point of the the house rose to a man all that had french hearts and let go a crash of applause and kept it up and in the midst of it one heard la hire growl out at the point of the lance by god that is the music i the king was up too and drew his sword and took it by the blade and strode to and delivered the of it into her hand there the king carry it to paris and so the applause burst out again and the historical council of war that has bred so many l ends was over chapter it was away past midnight and had been a tremendous day in the matter of excitement and fatigue but that was no matter to when there was business on hand she did not think of bed the followed her to her quarters and she delivered her orders to them as fast as she could talk and they sent them off to their different commands as fast as delivered wherefore the galloping hither and thither raised a world of clatter and in the still streets and soon were added to this the music of distant and the roll of drums notes of preparation for the would break camp at dawn the were soon dismissed but i wasn t nor for it was my to work now walked the floor and dictated a summons to the duke of to lay down his arms and make peace and exchange with the bang or if he must fight go fight the d de hon et v ms de les it was long but it was good and had the sterling ring to it it is my opinion that it was as fine and simple and straightforward and eloquent a state paper as ever uttered mark twain it was delivered into the hands of a and he galloped away with it then dismissed me and told me to go to the inn and stay and in the morning give to her father the parcel which she had left there it contained presents for the relatives and friends and a peasant dress which she had bought for herself she said she would say good by to her father and uncle in the morning if it should still be their purpose to go instead of awhile to see the city i didn t say anything of course but i could have said that wild horses couldn t keep those men in that town half a day they waste the glory of being the first to carry the great news to the taxes forever and hear the bells and clatter and the people cheer and shout oh not they and and the were events which in a vague way these men understood to be colossal but they were colossal mists this was a gigantic reality when i got there do you suppose they were i quite the reverse they and the rest were as mellow as w could be and the was doing his battles over in great style and the old were the building with their applause he was doing now and was bending his big frame forward and laying out the positions and movements with a here and a there of his formidable sword on the floor and the were stooped over with their hands on their spread knees observing with excited eyes and out of wonder and admiration all along q recollections op of arc yes here we were waiting waiting for the word our horses and and dancing to get away we lying back on the till our bodies fairly to the rear the word rang out at last go i and we went went there was nothing like it ever seen where we swept by of english the mere wind of our passage laid them flat in piles and rows then we into the of s frantic battle corps and tore through it like a leaving a of the dead stretching far behind no no rein but on on on far yonder	34
and with it his face toward paris dictated a letter to the citizens of to encourage them to keep heart in spite of the and to stand by them she furnished them the news herself that the king had made this and in speaking of it she was her usual frank self she said she was not satisfied with it and didn t know whether she would keep it or not that if she kept it it would be solely out of tenderness for the king s honor all french children know those famous words how they are de qui a i je ne pas et je ne si je la si je la ce pour du but in any case she said she would not allow the blood royal to be abused and would keep the army in good order and ready for work at the end of the poor child to have to fight england and a french conspiracy all at the same time it was too bad she was a match for the others but a conspiracy ah nobody is a match for that when the victim that is to be injured is weak and willing it grieved her these troubled days to be so mark twain and delayed and baffled and at times she was sad and the tears lay near the surface once talking with her good old faithful friend and servant the of she said ah if it might but please god to let me put off this steel and go back to my father and my mother and tend my sheep again with my sister and my brothers who would be so glad to see by the th of august we were near later we had a brush with s rear guard and had hopes of a big battle on the morrow but and all his force got away in the night and went on toward paris charles sent and received the submission of the bishop that faithful friend and slave of the english was not able to prevent it though he did his best he was obscure then but his name was to travel round the globe presently and live forever in the curses of bear with me now while i spit in fancy upon his grave surrendered and hauled down the english flag on the th we two from turned and approached and took up a strong position we went against him but all our efforts to him out from his failed though he had promised us a in the open field night shut down let him look out for the morning but in the morning he was gone again we entered the i th of august turning th english garrison and ow own recollections of of arc on the d gave command to move upon paris the king and the were not satisfied with this and retired to which had just surrendered within a few days many strong places submitted saint sur la the english ix was tumbling crash after crash and still the king and and was afraid of our movement against the capital on the th of august at st in effect the walls of paris and still the king back and was afraid if we could but have had him there to back us with his authority had lost heart and decided to resistance and go and his strength in the best and province remaining to him ah if we could only have persuaded the to come and us with his presence and approval at this supreme moment i chapter xl after was despatched to the king and he promised to come but didn t the duke d went to him and got his promise again which he broke again nine days were lost thus then he came arriving at st september th meantime the enemy had begun to take heart the conduct of the king could have no other result preparations had now been made to defend the city s chances had been diminished but she and her considered them plenty good enough yet ordered the attack for eight o clock next morning and at that hour it began placed her and began to pound a strong work which protected the gate st honor when it was sufficiently crippled the assault was sounded at noon and it was carried by storm then we moved forward to storm the gate itself and led ourselves against it again and again in the lead with her standard at her side the smoke us in choking clouds and the fl ring over us and through us as thick as hail in the midst of our last assault which would have carried the gate sure and given us paris and in effect france was struck down by a bolt recollections op of arc and our men fell back instantly and almost in a panic for what were they without her she was the army herself although she refused to retire and begged that a new assault be made saying it must win and adding with the battle light rising in her eyes i will take paris now or die she had to be carried away by force and this was done by and the duke d but her spirits were at the very top now she was with enthusiasm she said would be carried before the gate in the morning and in half an hour paris would be ours without any question she could have kept her word about this there was no doubt but she forgot one the king shadow of that substance named la the king forbade the attempt you see a new had just come from the duke of and another sham private trade of some sort was on foot you would know without my telling you that s heart was nearly broken because of the pain of her and the pain	34
at her heart she slept little that night several times the heard sobs from the dark room where she lay at st and many times the words it could have been taken it could have been taken which were the only ones she said she dragged herself out of bed a day later with a new hope d had thrown a bridge across the near st might she not cross by that and paris at another point but the mark twain king got wind of it and broke the bridge down and more he declared the campaign ended and more still he had made a new and a long one in which he had agreed to leave paris and go back to the whence he had come of arc who had never been defeated by the enemy was defeated by her own king she had said once that all she feared for her cause was treachery it had struck its first blow now she hung up her white in the royal of st and went and asked the king to relieve her of her and let her go home as she was wise grand far reaching great military moves were at an end now for the future when the should end the war would be merely a war of random and idle apparently work suitable for and not requiring the of a sublime military genius but the king would not let her go the did not embrace all there were to be watched and preserved he would need her really you see wanted to keep her where he could and hinder her now came her voices again they said remain at st there was no explanation they did not say why that was the voice of god it took of the command of the king resolved to stay but that filled la with dread she was too tremendous a force to be left to herself she would defeat all his plans he the king to use had to recollections of of arc submit because she was wounded and helpless in the great trial she said she was carried away against her will and that if she had not been wounded it could not have been accomplished ah she had a spirit that slender a spirit to brave all earthly powers and defy them we shall never know why the voices ordered her to stay we only know this that if she could have obeyed the history of france would not be as it now stands written in the books yes well we know that n on the th of september the army sad and turned its face toward the and marched without music yes one noted that detail it was a funeral march that is what it was a long dreary funeral march with never a shout or a cheer friends on in tears all the way enemies laughing we reached at last that place whence we had set out on our splendid march toward less than three months before with flags flying bands playing the victory flush of glowing in our faces and the multitudes shouting and and giving us there was a dull rain falling now the day was dark the heavens mourned the spectators were few we had no welcome but the welcome of silence and pity and tears then the king that noble army of heroes it its flags it stored its arms the disgrace of was complete la wore the victor s crown of arc the was conquered chapter yes it was as i have said had paris and france in her grip and the hundred years war under her heel and the king made her open her fist and take away her foot now followed about eight months of drifting about with the king and his council and his gay and and dancing and and and and and court drifting from town to town and from castle to castle a life which was pleasant to us of the personal staff but not to however she only saw it she didn t live it the king did his best to make her happy and showed a most kind and constant anxiety in this matter all others had to go loaded with the chains of an court etiquette but she was free she was privileged so that she paid her duty to the king once a day and passed the pleasant word nothing further was required of her naturally then she made herself a and grieved the weary days through in her own apartments with her thoughts and for company and the planning of now forever military for entertainment in fancy she moved bodies of men from this and that and the other point so calculating the dis recollections of of arc to be covered the time for each body and the nature of the country to be traversed as to have them appear in sight of each other on a given day or at a given hour and for battle it was her only game her only relief from her burden of sorrow and she played it hour after hour as others play and lost herself in it and so got repose for her mind and healing for her heart she never complained of course it was not her way she was the sort that endure in silence but she was a eagle just the same and for the free air and the heights and the fierce joys of the storm was full of soldiers ready for anything that might turn up several times at intervals when s dull grew too heavy to bear she was allowed to gather a troop of cavalry and make a health restoring dash against the enemy these things were like a bath to her spirits it was like old times there at saint e to see her lead assault	34
after assault be driven back again and again but always rally and charge anew all in a blaze of eagerness and delight till at last the est of rained so thick that old d who was wounded the retreat for the king had charged him on his head to let no harm come to and away everybody rushed after him as he supposed but when he turned and looked there were we of the staff still away wherefore he rode back mark twain and her to come saying she was mad to stay there with only a dozen men her eye danced merrily and she upon him crying out a dozen men name of god i h ve fifty thousand and will never till this place is taken sound the charge which he did and over the walls we went and the fortress was ours old d thought her mind was wandering but all she meant was that she felt the might of fifty thousand men in her heart it was a fanciful expression but to my thinking truer word was never said then there was the affair near where we charged the through the open field four times the last time the best prize of it d the and pitiless of the region about now and then other such affairs and at last away toward the end of may we were in the neighborhood of and resolved to go to the help of that place which was being by the duke of i had been lately and was not able to ride without help but the good dwarf took me on behind him and i held on to him and was safe enough we started at midnight in a sullen of warm rain and went slowly and softly and in dead silence for we had to slip through the enemy s lines we were only we made no answer but held our breath and crept steadily and stealthily along and got through recollections of op arc out any accident about three or half past we reached just as the gray dawn was breaking in the east set to work at once and a plan with de captain of the city a plan for a toward evening against the enemy who was posted in three bodies on the other side of the in the level plain from our side one of the city gates communicated with a bridge the end of this bridge was defended on the other side of the river by one of those called a and this also commanded a raised road which stretched from its front across the plain to the village of a force of occupied another was at a couple of miles above the raised road and a body of english was holding a mile and a half it a kind of bow and arrow arrangement you see the the arrow the at the of it at the at one end of the bow at the other s plan was to go straight per against carry it by assault then turn swiftly upon up to the right and capture that camp in the same way then face to the rear and be ready for heavy work for the duke of lay behind with a reserve s lieutenant with and the of the was to keep the english troops from coming up from below and seizing the and cutting off s retreat in case she should have to make one also a fleet of covered boats was to be stationed near the mark twain as an additional help in case a retreat should become necessary it was the th of may at four in the afternoon moved out at the head of six hundred cavalry on her last march in this life it breaks my heart i had got myself helped up the walls and from there i saw much that happened the rest was told me long afterward by our two knights and other eye witnesses crossed the bridge and soon left the behind her and went away over the raised road with her at her heels she had on a brilliant silver gilt cape over her and i could see it and and rise and fall like a little patch of white flame it was a bright day and one could see far and wide over that plain soon we saw the english force advancing swiftly and in handsome order the sunlight flashing from its arms into the at and was then she saw the other moving down from rallied her men and charged again and was again rolled back two occupy a good deal of time and time was precious here the english were approaching the road now from but the opened fire on them and they were checked her men with inspiring words and led them to the charge again in great style this time she carried with a then she turned at once to the right and plunged into the plain and struck the force was just arriving then there recollections op of arc was heavy work and plenty of it the two each other backward turn about and about and victory first to the one then to the other now all of a sudden there was a panic on our side some say one thing caused it some another some say the made our front ranks think retreat was being cut off by the english some say the rear ranks got the idea that was killed anyway our men broke and went flying in a wild for the tried to rally them and face them crying to them that victory was sure but it did no good they divided and swept by her like a wave old d begged her to retreat while there was yet a chance for safety but she refused so he seized her horse s bridle and bore her along with	34
the wreck and ruin in spite of herself and so along the they came that wild confusion of men and horses and the had to stop firing of course consequently the english and closed in in safety the former in front the latter behind their prey clear to the the french were washed in this and there in an angle formed by the flank of the and the slope of the they bravely fought a hopeless fight and sank down one by one watching from the city wall ordered the gate to be closed and the raised this shut out the little personal guard around her swiftly both of our good knights went down mark twain s two brothers fell wounded then nod all wounded while from blows aimed at her when only the dwarf and the were t they would not give up but their stoutly a pair of steel towers and with blood and where the ax of the one fell and the sword of the other an enemy gasped and died and so fighting and loyal to their duty to the last good simple souls they came to their honorable end peace to their memories i they were very dear to me then there was a cheer and a rush and still defiant stiu laying about her with her sword was seized by her cape and dragged from her horse she was borne away a prisoner to the duke of s camp and after her followed the victorious army roaring its joy the awful news started instantly on its round from lip to lip it flew and wherever it came it struck the people as with a sort of and they murmured over and over again as if th were talking to themselves or in their sleep the maid of taken of arc a prisoner the of france lost to us and would keep that over as if they couldn t how it could be or how god could permit it poor creatures you know what a city is like when it is hung from to pavement with rustling black then you know what was like and some other cities but can any man tell you what the mourning in the hearts of the of was like no recollections of of arc nobody can tell you that and dumb things they could not have told you themselves but it was there indeed yes why it was the spirit of a whole nation with the th of may we will draw down the curtain now the most strange and pathetic and wonderful military drama that has been played upon the stage of the world of arc will march no more book lit trial and chapter i i cannot bear to dwell at great length upon the shameful history of the summer and winter following the capture for a while i was not much troubled for i was expecting every day to hear that had been put to and that the king no not the king but grateful had come eagerly forward to pay it by the laws of war she could not be denied the privilege of she was not a rebel she was a constituted soldier head of the armies of by her king s appointment and guilty of no crime known to military law therefore she could not be detained upon any pretext if were proffered but day after day dragged by and no was offered it seems incredible but it is true was that busy at the king s ear all we know is that the king was silent and made no offer and no effort in behalf of this poor girl who had done so much for him but unhappily there was alacrity enough in other quarter the news of the capture reached paris the day after it happened and the glad english and the world all the day and all the night with the of their joy bells and the thankful thunder of their and the mark twain next day the general of the sent a message to the duke of requiring the delivery of the prisoner into the hands of the church to be tried as an the english had seen their opportunity and it was the english power that was really acting not the church the church was being used as a blind a disguise and for a forcible reason the church was not only able to take the life of of arc but to her influence and the breeding inspiration of her name whereas the english power could but her body that would not or destroy the influence of her name it would it and make it permanent of arc was the only power in that the english did not despise the only power in that they considered formidable if the church could be brought to take her life or to proclaim her an a a witch sent from satan not from heaven it was believed that the english could be at once the duke of listened but waited he could not doubt that the or the people would come rd presently and pay a higher price than the english he kept a close prisoner in a strong fortress and continued to wait week after week he was a prince and was at heart ashamed to sell her to the english yet with all his waiting no offer came to him from the side one day played a cunning trick on her and not only slipped out of her prison but locked c and uncle watching the recollections op op arc him up in it but as she fled away she was seen by a and was caught and brought back then she was sent to a stronger castle this was early in august and she had been in more than two months now here she was shut up in the top	34
of a tower which was sixty feet high she ate her heart there for another long stretch about three months and a half and she was aware all these weary five months of that the english imder cover of the church were for her as one would for a horse or a slave and that france was silent the king silent all her friends the same yes it was pitiful and yet when she heard at last that was being closely and likely to be captured and that the enemy had declared that no of it should escape not even children of seven years of age she was in a fever at once to fly to rescue so she tore her to and tied them together and descended this frail rope in the night and it broke and she fell and was badly bruised and remained three days insensible meantime neither eating nor drinking and now came relief to us led by the count of and was saved and the siege raised this was a disaster to the duke of he had to have money now it was a good time for a new bid to be made for of arc the english at once sent a french bishop that forever infamous of he was partly promised the of mark twain which was vacant if he should succeed he claimed the right to over s trial because the battle ground where she was taken was within his by the military usage of the time the of a royal prince was of gold which is a fixed sum you see it must be accepted when offered it could not be refused brought the offer of this very sum from the a royal prince s for the poor little peasant girl of it shows in a striking way the english idea of her formidable im it was accepted for that sum of arc the of france was sold sold to her enemies to the enemies of her country enemies who had lashed and and and for a century and made sport of it enemies who had forgotten years and years ago what a frenchman s face was like so used were they to seeing nothing but his back enemies whom she had whipped whom she had whom she had taught to respect french new bom in her nation by the breath of her spirit enemies who for her life as being the only able to stand between english triumph and french degradation sold to a french priest by a french prince with the king and the french nation standing by and saying nothing and she what did she say nothing not a reproach passed her lips she was too great for that she was of arc and when that is said all is said recollections of op arc as a soldier her record was she not be called to account for anything under that head a must be found and as we have seen was she must be tried by priests for crimes against religion if none could be discovered some must be invented let the alone to contrive those was chosen as the scene of the trial it was in the heart of the english power its population had been english dominion so many generations that they were hardly french now save in language the place was strongly was taken there near the end of december and into a yes and clothed in chains that free spirit i still france made no move how do i for this i think there is only one way you will remember that whenever was not at the front the french held back and nothing that whenever she led they swept before them so long as they could see her white or her banner that every time she fell wounded or was reported killed as at they broke in panic and fled like sheep i argue from this that they had undergone no real as yet that at bottom they were still under the spell of a bom of generations of and a lack of confidence in each other and in their leaders bom of old and bitter experience in the way of of all sorts for their kings had been treacherous to their great and to their and these in turn were treacherous to the head mark twain of the state and to each other the found that they could depend utterly on and upon her alone with her gone everything was gone she was the sun that melted the frozen torrents and set them boiling with that removed they again and the army and all became what they had been before mere dead that and nothing more incapable of thought hope ambition or motion chapter ii my wound gave me a great deal of trouble dear into the first part of october then the weather renewed my life and strength all this time there were reports drifting about that the king was going to i believed these for i was and had not yet found out the and meanness of our poor human race which about itself so much and thinks it is better and higher than the other animals in october i was well enough to go out with two and in the second one on the d i was wounded again my luck had turned you see on the night of the th the and in the disorder and confusion one of their prisoners escaped and got safe into and into my room as pallid and pathetic an object as you would wish to see what alive it was indeed he it was a most joyful meeting that you will easily know and also as sad as it was joyful we could not speak s name one s voice would have broken down we knew who was meant when she was	34
mentioned we could say she and her but we could not speak the name we talked of the personal staff old d mark twain wounded and a prisoner was still with and serving her by permission of the duke of was being treated with the respect due to her rank and to her character as a prisoner of war taken in honorable conflict and this was continued as we learned later until she fell into the hands of that of satan bishop of was full of noble and affectionate praises and of our old big standard bearer now gone silent forever his real and imaginary battles all fought his work done his life closed and completed and think of his luck burst out with his eyes full of tears always the pet child of luck see how it followed him and stayed by him from his first step au through in the field or out of it a splendid figure in the public eye and envied everywhere always having a chance to do fine things and always doing them in the called the in joke and called it afterward in earnest because he made the title good and at last luck of all died in the field died with his harness on died faithful to his charge the standard in his hand died oh think of it with the eye of of arc upon him he drained the cup of glory to the last drop and went to his peace spared all part in the disaster which was to follow what luck what luck and we what was our sin that we are still here we who have also earned our place with the happy dead recollections op op arc and presently he said they tore the sacred standard from his dead hand and carried it away their most precious after its captured owner but they haven t it now a month ago we put our lives upon the risk our two good knights my fellow prisoners and i and stole it and got it by hands to and there it is now safe for all time in the treasury i was glad and grateful to learn that i have seen it often since when i have gone to on the th of may to be the old guest of the city and hold the first place of honor at the and in the i mean since s brothers passed from this life it will still be there guarded by french love a years from now yes as long as any of it hangs together two or three weeks after this talk came the news like a thunder and we were aghast of arc sold to the english it remained three hundred and sixty years and then was destroyed in a public together with two swords a cap several suits of state apparel and other relics of the maid by a mob in the time of the revolution nothing which the hand of of arc is known to have touched now remains in existence except a few guarded military and state papers which she signed her pen being guided by a or her secretary louis de a exists from which she is known to have mounted her horse when she was once setting out upon a campaign up to a quarter of a century ago there was a single hair from her head still in existence it was drawn through the wax of a seal attached to the of a state document it was out seal and all by some hunter and carried off i it still but only the thief knows where mark twain not for a moment had we ever dreamed of such a thing we were young you see and did not know the human race as i have said before we had been so proud of country so sure of her her her gratitude we had expected little of the king but of we had expected everything everybody knew that in various towns priests had been marching in procession urging the people to sacrifice money property and buy the freedom of their heaven sent that the money would be raised we had not thought of doubting but it was all over now all over it was a bitter time for us the heavens seemed with black all cheer went out from our hearts was this comrade here at my bedside really that light hearted creature whose whole life was but one long joke and who used up more breath in laughter than in keeping his body alive no no that i was to see no more this one s heart was broken he moved about and like one in a dream the stream of his laughter was dried at its source well that was best it was my own mood we were company for each other he me patiently through the dull long weeks and at last in january i was strong enough to go about again then he said shall we go now yes there was no need to explain our hearts were in we would carry our bodies there all recollections of op arc that we cared for in this life was shut up in that fortress we could not help her but it would be some solace to us to be near her to breathe the air that she breathed and look daily upon the stone walls that hid her what if we should be made prisoners there well we could but do our best and let luck and fate decide what should happen and so we started we not realize the change which had come upon the we seemed able to choose our own route and go wherever we pleased and when of arc was in the field there was a sort of panic of fear but now that she was	34
out of the way fear had vanished nobody was troubled about you or afraid of you nobody was curious about you or business everybody was we presently saw that we could take to the and not weary ourselves out with land travel so we did it and were carried in a boat to within a league of then we got ashore not on the side but on the other where it is as level as a floor nobody enter or leave the city without explaining himself it was because they feared attempts at a rescue of we had no trouble we stopped in the plain with a family of and stayed a week helping them with their work for board and lodging and making friends of them we got clothes like theirs and wore them when we had worked our way through their and gotten their confidence we found that they secretly french hearts in their bodies then we came out frankly and told then mark twain everything and them ready to do anything they to help us our plan was soon made and was quite simple it was to help them drive a flock of sheep to the market of the city one morning early we made the venture in a melancholy of rain and passed through the frowning gates our friends had friends living over a wine shop in a quaint tall building situated in one of the narrow lanes that run down from the cathedral to the river and with these they bestowed us and the next day they our own proper clothing and other to us the family that lodged us the were french in sympathy and we needed to have no secrets from them chapter iii it was necessary for me to have some way to gain bread for and myself and when the foimd that i knew how to write they applied to their in my behalf and he got a place for me with a good priest named who was to be the chief in the great trial of of arc now approaching it was a strange position for me clerk to the and dangerous if my sympathies and late should be found out but there was not much danger was at bottom friendly to and would not betray me and my name would not for i had discarded my and retained only my given one like a person of low degree i attended constantly straight along out of january and into february and was often in the with him in the very fortress where was imprisoned though not in the where she was confined and so did not see her of course told me everything that had been happening before my coming ever since the purchase of had been busy packing his jury for the destruction of the maid weeks and weeks he had spent in this bad industry the university of paris had sent him a of learned and able mark twain and of the he wanted and he had scraped together a clergyman of like and great fame here and there and yonder until he was able to a formidable court half a hundred distinguished names french names they were but their interests and were english a great officer of the was also sent from paris for the accused must be tried by the forms of the but this was a brave and righteous man and he said that this court had no power to try the case wherefore he refused to act and the same honest talk was uttered by two or three others the was right the case as here against had already been tried long ago at and decided in her favor yes and by a higher than this one for at the head of it was an he of s own so here you see a lower court was preparing to and a cause which had already been decided by its superior a of higher authority imagine it no the case could not properly be tried again could not properly in this new court for more than one reason was not in his had not been arrested in her which was still and finally this proposed judge was the prisoner s enemy and therefore he was to try her yet all these large difficulties were gotten rid of the chapter of finally granted letters to ii recollections of op arc though only after a struggle and under force was also applied to the and he was obliged to submit so then the little english king by his representative formally delivered into the hands of the court but with this if the court to condemn her he was to have her again ah dear what chance was there for that forsaken and child indeed it is the right word for she was in a black with half a dozen brutal common soldiers keeping guard night and day in the room where her cage for she was in a cage an iron cage and chained to her bed by neck and hands and feet never a person near her whom she had ever seen before never a woman at all yes this was indeed now it was a of de who captured at and it was who sold her to the duke of yet this very de was enough to go and show his face to in her cage he came with two english and he was a poor he told her he would get her set free if she would promise not to fight the english any more she had been in that cage a long time now but not long enough to break her spirit she retorted scornfully name of god you but mock me i know that you have neither the power nor the will to do it he insisted then the pride and	34
dignity of the soldier rose in and she lifted her chained hands and let them fall with a dash saying ij mark twain it see these they know more than you and can better i know that the english are going to kill me for they think that when i am dead they can get the kingdom of it is not so though there were a thousand of them they never get it this defiance and he now think of it he a free strong man i she a chained and helpless girl he drew his dagger and flung himself at her to her but seized him and held him back was wise take her life in that way send her to heaven and it would make her the idol of france and the whole nation would rise and march to victory and the inspiration of her spirit no she must be saved for another fate than that well the time was approaching for the great trial for more than two months had been and for any odds and ends of evidence or suspicion or conjecture that might be made against and carefully all evidence that came to hand in her favor he had ways and means and powers at his disposal for preparing and the case for the and he used them all but had no one to prepare her case for her and she was shut up in those stone walls and friend to appeal to for help and as for witnesses she could not a single one in her they were all far away under the french flag and this was an english court they would have been seized ji recollections of of arc and hanged if they had shown their faces at the gates of no the prisoner must be the sole witness witness for the witness for the and with a verdict of death resolved upon before the doors were opened for the court s first sitting when she learned that the court was made up of in the interest of the english she begged that in an equal number of priests of the french party should be added to these at her message and would not even to answer it by the law of the church she being a under twenty one it was her right to have counsel to conduct her case advise her how to answer when questioned and protect her from falling into traps set by cunning devices of the she probably did not know that this was her right and that she could demand it and require it for there was none to tell her that but she begged for this help at any rate refused it she urged and implored pleading her youth and her ignorance of the and of the law and of legal refused again and said she must get along with her case as best she might by herself ah his heart was a stone prepared the verbal i will that by calling it the bill of particulars it was a detailed list of the charges against her and formed the basis of the trial charges it was a list of suspicions and public those were the words used it was merely charged that she was suspected mark twain of having been guilty of and other such against now by law of the church a trial of that sort could not be begun until a searching inquiry had been made into the history and character of the accused and it was essential that the result of this inquiry be added to the verbal and form a part of it you remember that that was the first thing they did before the trial at they did it again now an was sent to there and all about the neighborhood he made an search into s history and character and came back with his verdict it was very dear the reported that he found s character to be in every way what he would like his own sister s character to be just about the same report that was brought back to you see s was a character which could endure the examination this verdict was a strong point for you will say yes it would have been if it could have seen the light but was awake and it disappeared from the verbal before the trial people were prudent enough not to inquire what became of it one would imagine that was ready to begin the trial by this time but no he devised one more scheme for poor s destruction and it promised to be a deadly one one of the great personages picked out and sent down by the university of paris was an named he was tall handsome recollections op of arc grave of smooth soft speech and courteous and winning manners there was no seeming of treachery or about him yet he was full of both he was admitted to s prison by night disguised as a he pretended to be from her own country he professed to be secretly a he revealed the fact that he was a priest she was filled with gladness to see one from the hills and plains that were so dear to her happier still to look upon a priest and her heart in confession for the offices of the church were the bread of life the breath of her nostrils to her and she had been long forced to pine for them in vain she opened her whole innocent heart to this creature and in return he gave her advice concerning her trial which have destroyed her if her deep native wisdom had not protected her against following it you will ask what value could this scheme have since the secrets of the are sacred and cannot be revealed true but suppose another person them that person is	34
not bound to keep the secret well that is what happened had previously caused a hole to be bored through the wall and he stood with his ear to that hole and heard all it is pitiful to think of these things one wonders how they could treat that poor child so she had not done them any harm chapter iv on tuesday the th of february while i sat at my master s work in the evening he looking sad and said it had been decided to begin the trial at eight o clock the next morning and i must get ready to assist him of course i had been expecting such news every day for many days but no matter the shock of it almost took my breath away and set me trembling like a leaf i suppose that without knowing it i had been half imagining that at the last moment something would happen something that stop this fatal trial maybe that la hire would burst in at the gates with his at his back maybe that god would have pity and stretch forth his mighty hand but now now there was no hope the trial was to begin in the chapel of the fortress and would be public so i went away and told so that he might be there early and secure a place it would give him a chance to look again upon the face which we so and which was so precious to us all the way both going and coming i through chattering and rejoicing multitudes of english and english hearted french citizens there was no talk but of the coming event many times i heard the remark accompanied by a pitiless laugh recollections op op arc the fat bishop has got things as he wants them at and says he will lead the vile witch a merry dance and a short one but here and there i compassion and distress in a face and it was not always a one english soldiers feared but they admired her for her great deeds and her spirit in the morning and i went early yet as we approached the vast fortress we found crowds of men already there and still others gathering the chapel was already full and the way barred against of persons we took our appointed places on high sat the president bishop of in his grand robes and before him in rows sat his fifty distinguished men of degree in the church of dear intellectual faces men of deep learning in and practised of traps for ignorant minds and feet when i looked around upon this army of masters of legal fence gathered here to find just one verdict and no other and remembered that must fight for her good name and her life single handed against them i asked myself what chance an ignorant country girl of nineteen could have in such an unequal conflict and my heart sank down low very low when i looked again at that president and there his great belly and receding with each breath and noted his three fold above fold and his and face and his purple and complexion and his mark twain repulsive nose and his cold and malignant eyes a brute every detail of him my heart sank lower still and when i noted that ail were afraid of this man and shrank and in their seats when his eye sm te theirs my last poor ray of hope dissolved away and wholly disappeared there was one seat in this place and only one it was over against the wall in view of every one it was a little wooden bench without a back and it stood apart and solitary on a sort of tall men at arms in and steel stood as stiff as their own on each side of this but no other creature was near by it a pathetic little bench to me it was for i knew whom it was for and the sight of it carried my mind back to the great court at where sat upon one like it and calmly fought her cunning fight with the astonished doctors of the church and parliament and rose from it victorious and applauded by all and went forth to fill the world with the glory of her name what a dainty little figure she was and how gentle and innocent how winning and beautiful in the fresh bloom of her seventeen years those were grand days and so recent for she was but just nineteen new and how much she had seen since and what wonders she had accomplished but now oh all was changed now she had been in away from light and air and the cheer of friendly faces for nearly of a year she bom child of the sun natural comrade of the birds and of all happy free recollections of of arc creatures she be weary now and worn with this long her forces perhaps as knowing there was no hope yes all was changed all this time there had been a muffled hum of conversation and rustling of robes and of feet on the floor a combination of dull noises which filled all the place suddenly produce the accused it made me catch my breath my heart began to like a hammer but there was silence now silence absolute all those noises ceased and it was as if they had never been not a the stillness grew oppressive it was like a weight upon one all faces were turned toward the door and one could properly expect that for most of the people there suddenly realized no doubt that they were about to see in actual flesh and blood what had been to them before only an embodied a word a phrase a world name the stillness continued then far down the stone paved	34
one heard a vague slow approaching of arc of france in chains my head swam all things whirled and about me ah was too chapter v i give you my honor now that i am not going to or the facts of this miserable trial no i will give them to you honestly detail by detail just as and i set them down daily in the official record of the court and just as one may read them in the printed histories there will be only this difference that in talking familiarly with you i shall use my right to comment upon the proceedings and explain them as i go along so that you can understand them better also i shall throw in trifles which came under our eyes and have a certain interest for you and me but were not im enough to go into the official record to take up my story now where i left off we heard the of s chains down the she was approaching presently she appeared a thrill swept the and one heard deep drawn two followed her at a short distance to the rear her head was bowed a little and she moved slowly she being weak and her irons heavy she had on men s attire all black a soft stuff intensely black he kept his word his account of the great trial will be found to be in and detailed accordance with the sworn facts of history recollections op op arc black not a speck of color in it from her throat to the floor a wide collar of this same black stuff lay in folds upon her shoulders and breast the sleeves of her were full down to the elbows and tight thence to her wrists below the tight black down to the chains on her ankles half way to her bench she stopped just where a wide shaft of light fell from a window and slowly lifted her face another thrill i it was totally white as snow a face of gleaming snow set in vivid contrast upon that slender statue of black it was smooth and pure and girlish beautiful beyond belief infinitely sad and sweet but dear dear when the challenge of those eyes fell upon that judge and the vanished from her form and it straightened up and noble my heart leaped for joy and i said all is well all is well they have not broken her they have not conquered her she is of arc still yes it was plain to me now that there was one spirit there which this dreaded judge could not nor make afraid she moved to her place and the and seated herself upon her bench gathering her chains into her lap and her little white hands there then she waited in tranquil dignity the only person there who seemed and a and english soldier standing at martial ease in the front rank of the citizen spectators did now most gallantly and respectfully put up his great hand and give her the military salute and mark twain she smiling friendly put up hers and returned it there was a sympathetic little break of applause which the judge sternly silenced now the memorable called in history the great trial began fifty against a and no one to help the the judge the of the case and the public reports and suspicions upon which it was based then he required to kneel and make oath that she would answer with exact to all questions asked her s mind was not asleep it suspected that dangerous possibilities might lie hidden under this apparently fair and reasonable demand she answered with the simplicity which so often the enemy s best laid plans in the trial at and said no for i do not know what you are going to ask me you might ask of me things which i would not tell you this the and brought out a brisk of angry exclamations was not disturbed raised his voice and began to speak in the midst of this noise but he was so angry that he could hardly get his words out he said with the divine assistance of our lord we require you to these proceedings for the welfare of conscience swear with your hands upon the that you will answer true to the questions which shall be asked you and he brought down his fat hand with a crash upon his official table said with composure recollections op op arc as concerning my father and mother and the faith and what things i have done since my coming into i will gladly answer but as regards the revelations which i have received from god my voices have forbidden me to confide them to any save my king here there was another angry outburst of threats and and much movement and confusion so she had to stop and wait for the noise to then her face flushed a little and she straightened up and fixed her eye on the judge and finished her sentence in a voice that had the old ring in it and i will never reveal these things though you cut my head off well maybe you know what a body of is like the judge and half the court were on their feet in a moment and all shaking their fists at the prisoner and all and at once so that you could hardly hear yourself think they kept this up several minutes and because sat and indifferent they grew and all the time once she said with a fleeting trace of the old time mischief in her eye and r speak one at a time fair lords then i will answer all of you at the end of three whole hours of furious over the oath the situation had not changed a the bishop was still requiring an oath	34
was refusing for the twentieth time to take any except the one which she had herself mark twain posed there was a change apparent but it was confined to court and judge they were hoarse exhausted by their long frenzy and had a sort of haggard look in their faces men whereas was still placid and and did not seem tired the noise down there was a waiting pause of some moments duration then the judge surrendered to the prisoner and with bitterness in his voice told her to take the oath after her own fashion at once to her knees and as she laid her hands upon the that big english soldier set free his mind by god if she were but english she were not in this place another half a second it was the soldier in him to the soldier in her but what a rebuke it was what an of french character and french that he could have uttered just that one phrase in the hearing of i know that that grateful city that city have risen to the last man and the last woman and marched upon some speeches speeches that shame a man and him bum themselves into the memory and remain there that one is burned into mine after had made oath asked her her name and where she was bom and some questions about her family also what her age was she answered these then he asked her how much education she had i have learned from my mother the recollections op op arc the ave maria and the belief all that i know was taught me by my mother questions of this sort on for a considerable time everybody was tired out by now except the prepared to rise at this point forbade to try to escape from prison upon pain of being held of the crime of singular logic she answered simply i am not by this it i could escape i would not reproach myself for i have given no promise and i shall not then she complained of the burden of her chains and asked that they might be removed for she was strongly guarded in that and there was no need of them but the bishop refused and reminded her that she had broken out of prison twice before of arc was too proud to insist she only said as she rose to go with the guard it is true i have wanted to escape and i do want to escape then she added in a way that would touch the pity of anybody i think it is the right of every prisoner and so she went from the place in the midst of an impressive which made the and more to me the of those pathetic chains what presence of mind she had i one could never surprise her out of it she saw and me there when she first took her seat on her bench and we flushed to the forehead with excitement and emotion but her face showed nothing betrayed nothing her j mark twain eyes sought tis fifty times that day but they passed on and there was never any ray of recognition in them another would have started upon seeing us and then why then there could have been trouble for us of course we walked slowly home together each busy with his own grief and saying not a word chapter vi that night told me that au through the day s proceedings had had some clerks concealed in the of a window who to make a special report s answers and twisting them from their right meaning ah that was surely the m and the most that has lived in this world but his scheme failed those clerks had human hearts in them and their base work them and they turned to and boldly made a straight report whereupon cursed them and ordered them out of his presence with a threat of drowning which was his favorite and most frequent menace the matter had gotten abroad and was making great and unpleasant talk and would not try to repeat this shabby game right away it comforted me to hear that when we arrived at the next morning we found that a change had been made the chapel had been found too small the court had now removed to a noble chamber situated at the end of the great hall of the castle the of judges was increased to sixty two one ignorant girl against such odds and none to help her the prisoner was brought in she was as white mark twain as ever but she was looking no whit worse than she looked when she had first appeared the day before isn t it a strange thing yesterday she had sat five hours on that bench with her chains in her lap persecuted by that crew without even the refreshment of a cup of water for she was never offered anything and if i have made you know her by this time you will know without my telling you that she was not a person likely to ask of those people and she had spent the night in her wintry with her chains upon her yet here she was as i say collected and ready for the conflict yes and the only person there who showed no signs of the wear and worry of yesterday and her eyes ah you should have seen them and broken your hearts have you seen that veiled deep glow that pathetic hurt dignity that and able spirit that and in the eye of a eagle and makes you feel mean and shabby the burden of its mute reproach her eyes were like that how capable they were and how wonderful yes at all times and in all circumstances they could express as by print every shade	34
of the wide range of her moods in them were hidden floods of gay the and and storms and not in this world have there been others that were to them such is my opinion and none that had the privilege to see them would say otherwise than this which i have said concerning them recollections op of arc the began and how did it begin should you think exactly as it began before with that same tedious thing which had been settled once after so much the bishop opened thus you are now to take the oath pure and simple to answer truly all questions asked you replied placidly i have made oath yesterday my lord let that suffice the bishop insisted and insisted with rising temper but shook her head and remained silent at last she said i made oath yesterday it is sufficient then she sighed and said of a truth you do burden me too much the bishop still insisted still commanded but he not move her at last he gave it up and turned her over for the day s to an old hand at tricks and traps and a doctor of now notice the form of this sleek s first remark flung out in an easy way that would have thrown any ul i off his guard now the matter is very simple just speak up and frankly and truly answer the questions which i am going to ask you as you have sworn to do it was a failure was not asleep she saw the she said no you could ask me things which i could not you and would not then reflecting upon mark twain how profane and out of character it was for these ministers of god to be into matters which had proceeded from his hands under the awful seal of his secrecy she added with a warning note in her tone if you were well informed concerning me you would wish me out of your hands i have done nothing but by revelation changed his attack and began an approach from another quarter he would slip upon her you see under cover of innocent and unimportant questions did you learn any trade at home yes to and to spin then the invincible soldier victor of conqueror of the lion of of a king s crown commander in chief of a nation s armies straightened herself proudly up gave her head a little toss and said with complacency and when it comes to that i am not afraid to be matched against any woman in the crowd of spectators broke out with applause which pleased and there was many a friendly and smile to be seen but at the people and warned them to keep still and mind their manners asked other questions then had you other occupations at home yes i helped my mother in the work and went to the pastures with the sheep and the cattle her voice trembled a little but one could hardly notice it as for me it brought those old enchanted j l i won recollections op op arc days back to me and i not see what i was writing for a little while cautiously edged along up with other questions toward the forbidden ground and finally repeated a question which she had refused to answer a little while back as to whether she had received the in those days at other than that of merely said or as one might say pass on to matters which you are privileged to into i heard a member of the court say to a neighbor as a rule witnesses are but dull creatures and an easy prey yes and easily embarrassed easily frightened but truly one can neither scare this child nor find her presently the house pricked up its ears and began to listen eagerly for began to touch upon s voices a matter of interest and curiosity to everybody his purpose was to trick her into heedless sayings that could indicate that the voices had sometimes given her evil advice whence that they had come from satan you see to have dealings with the devil well that would send her to the stake in brief order and that was the deliberate end and aim of this trial when did you first hear these voices i was thirteen when i first heard a voice coming from god to help me to live well i was frightened it came at midday in my father s garden in the summer had you been yes mark twain the day before no what direction did it come the right from toward the church did it come with a bright light oh indeed yes it was brilliant when i came into france i often heard the voices very loud what did the voice sound like it was a noble voice and i thought it was sent to me from god the third time i heard it i recognized it as being an angel s you could it quite easily it was always clear what advice did it give you as to the salvation of your soul it told me to live rightly and be regular in attendance upon the services of the and it told me that i must go to in what species of form did the voice appear looked suspiciously at the priest a moment then said as to that i will not tell you did the voice seek you often yes twice or three times a week saying leave your village and go to did your father know about your departure no the voice said go to therefore i could not abide at home any longer what else did it say that i should raise the siege of was that all recollections of of arc no i was to go to and	34
robert de would give me soldiers to go with me to and i answered saying that i was a poor girl who did not know how to ride neither how to fight then she told how she was and interrupted at but finally got her soldiers and began her march how were you dressed the court of had distinctly decided and that as god had appointed her to do a man s work it was meet and no scandal to religion that she should dress as a man but no matter this court was ready to use any and all weapons against even broken and ones and much was going to be made of this one before this trial should end i wore a man s dress also a sword which robert de gave me but no other weapon who was it that advised you to wear the dress of a man was suspicious again she would not answer the question was repeated she refused again answer it is a command was all she said so gave up the matter for the present what did say to you when you left he made them that were to go with me promise to take charge of me and to me he said go and let happen what may m mark twain after a good deal of questioning upon other matters she was asked again about her attire she said it was necessary for her to dress as a man did your voice advise it merely answered placidly i believe my voice gave me good advice it was all that could be got out of her so the questions wandered to other matters and finally to her first meeting with the king at she said she chose out the king who was unknown to her by the revelation of her voices all that happened at that time was gone over finally do you still hear those voices they come to me every day what do you ask of them i have never asked of them any but the salvation of my soul did the voice always urge you to follow the army he is creeping upon her again she answered it required me to remain behind at st i would have obeyed if i had been free but i was helpless by my wound and the knights can me away by force when were you wounded i was in the moat before paris in the assault the next question what had been leading up to was it a feast day you see the suggestion is that a voice coming from god would hardly advise or permit the by war and of a sacred day recollections arc was troubled a moment then she answered yes it was a feast day now then tell me this did you hold it right to make the attack on such a day this was a shot which might make the first breach in a wall which had suffered no damage thus far there was immediate silence in the court and intense noticeable all about but disappointed the house she merely made a slight little motion with her hand as when one away a fly and said with indifference y smiles danced for a moment in some of the faces there and several even laughed outright the trap had been long and laboriously prepared it fell and was empty the court rose it had sat for and was cruelly fatigued most of the time had been taken up with apparently idle and inquiries about the events the duke of s st and so on but all this seemingly random stuff had really been sown thick with hidden traps but had fortunately escaped them all some by the protecting luck which upon ignorance and innocence some by happy accident the others by force of her best and the clear vision and of her extraordinary mind now then this daily and of this girl a captive in chains was to continue a long long time dignified sport a of and a mark twain and i may as well tell you upon sworn testimony what it was like from the first day to the last when poor had been in her grave a quarter of a century the pope called together that great court which was to re examine her history and whose just verdict cleared her illustrious name from every spot and stain and laid upon the verdict and conduct of our the of its everlasting and several of the judges who had been members of our court were among the witnesses who appeared before that of recalling these miserable proceedings which i have been telling you about thus here you have it all in fair print in the official history when spoke of her she was interrupted at every word they wearied her with long and multiplied upon all sorts of things almost every day the of the morning lasted or four hours then from these morning they extracted the particularly difficult and subtle points and these served as material for the which lasted two or three hours moment by moment they from one subject to another yet in spite of this she always responded with an astonishing wisdom and memory she often corrected the judges saying but i have already answered that once before ask the referring them to me and here is the testimony of one of s judges remember these witnesses are not talking about two or three days they are talking about a tedious long procession of days they asked her questions but she herself quite well sometimes the changed suddenly and recollections of of arc passed to another subject to see if she would not contradict herself they her with long of two or three hours from which the judges themselves went forth fatigued from the with which she was beset the man in the world could not have	34
himself but with difficulty she gave her with great prudence indeed to such a d that during three weeks i believed she was inspired ah had she a mind such as i have described you see what these priests say under oath picked men men chosen for their places in that terrible court on of their learning their experience their keen and practised and their strong bias against the prisoner they make that poor young girl out the match and more than the match of the sixty two trained isn t it so they from the university of paris she from the and the cow stable i ah yes she was great she was wonderful it took six thousand years to produce her her like will not be seen in the earth again in fifty thousand such is my opinion chapter vii the third meeting of the court was in that same spacious chamber next day th of february how did it begin work in just the same old way when the preparations were ended the sixty two in their chairs and the guards and order ers distributed to their stations spoke from his throne and commanded to lay her hands upon the and swear to tell the truth concerning everything asked her s eyes kindled and she rose rose and stood fine and noble and faced toward the bishop and said take care what you do my lord you who are my judge for you take a terrible responsibility on yourself and you too far it made a great stir and burst out upon her with an awful threat the threat of instant unless she obeyed that made the very bones in my body turn cold and i saw cheeks about me for it meant fire and the stake but still standing answered him back proud and not all the clergy in paris and could condemn me lacking the right this made a great tumult and part of it was applause from the spectators resumed her seat the bishop still insisted said recollections of of arc i have already made oath it is enough the bishop shouted in refusing to swear you place yourself under suspicion let be i have sworn already it is enough the bishop continued to insist answered that she would tell what she knew but not all that she knew the bishop her straight along till at last she said in a weary tone i came from god i have nothing more to do here me to god from whom i came it was piteous to hear it was the same as saying you only want my life take it and let me be at peace the bishop out again once more i command you to cut in with a and retired from the struggle but he retired with some credit this time for he offered a compromise and always clear headed saw protection for herself in it and promptly and willingly accepted it she was to swear to tell the truth as touching the matters set down in the verbal they could not sail her outside of definite limits now her course was over a sea henceforth the l had granted more than he had intended and more than he would honestly try to abide by by resumed his examination of the accused it being lent there might be a chance to catch her some detail of her n io mark twain duties i could have told him he would fail there why religion was her life i since when have you eaten or drunk if the least thing had passed her lips in the nature of neither her youth nor the fact that she was being half starved in her prison could save her from dangerous suspicion of contempt for the of the church i have done neither since yesterday at noon the priest shifted to the voices again when have you heard your voice yesterday and to day at what time yesterday it was in the morning what were you doing then i was asleep and it woke me by touching your arm no without touching me did you thank it did you kneel he had satan in his mind you see and was hoping perhaps that by and by it could be shown that she had rendered homage to the arch enemy of god and man yes i thanked it and knelt in my bed where i was chained and joined my hands and begged it to god s help for me so that i might have light and instruction as touching the answers i should give here then what did the voice say it told me to answer boldly and god would help me then she turned toward and said you say that you are my judge now i tell you recollections op op arc again take care what you do for in truth i am sent of god and you are putting in great danger asked her if the voice s counsels were not and no it never itself this very day it has told me again to answer boldly has it forbidden you to answer only part of what is asked you i will tell you nothing as to that i have revelations touching the king my master and those i will not tell you then she was stirred by a great emotion and the tears sprang to her eyes and she spoke out as with strong conviction saying i believe wholly as wholly as i believe the christian faith and that god has us from the fires of hell that god speaks to me by that voice i being questioned further concerning the voice she said she was not at liberty to tell all she knew do you think god would be displeased at your telling the whole truth the voice has commanded me to tell the king certain things	34
and not you and some very lately even last night things which i would he knew he would be more easy at his dinner why doesn t the voice speak to the king itself as it did when you were with him would it not if you asked it i do not know if it be the wish of god she was pensive a moment or two busy with her thoughts and far away no doubt then she added a remark mark twain in which always watchful always alert detected a possible opening o chance to set a trap do you think he jumped at it instantly betraying the joy he had in his find as a young hand at craft and would do no oh no you could not tell that he had noticed the remark at all he slid indifferently away from it at once and began to ask idle questions about other things so as to slip and spring on it from behind so to speak tedious and empty questions as to whether the voice had told her she would escape from this prison and if it had furnished answers to be used by her in to day s if it was accompanied with a glory of light if it had eyes etc that remark of s was this without the grace of god i could do nothing the court saw the priest s game and watched his play with a cruel eagerness poor was grown dreamy and absent possibly she was tired her life was in imminent danger and she did not suspect it the time was ripe now and quietly and stealthily sprung his trap are you in a state of grace ah we had two or three honorable brave men in that pack of judges and was one of them he sprang to his feet and cried out it is a terrible question the accused is not obliged to answer it s face flushed black with anger to see this plank flung to the child and he shouted silence and take your seat the accused will answer the question recollections of of arc there was no hope no way out of the for whether she said yes or whether she said no it be all the same a disastrous answer for the had said one cannot know this thing think what hard hearts they were to set this fatal for that ignorant young girl and be proud of such work and happy in it it was a miserable moment for me while we waited it seemed a year all the house showed excitement and mainly it was glad excitement looked out upon these faces with innocent eyes and then humbly and gently she brought out that immortal answer which brushed the formidable away as it had been but a be not in a state of grace i pray god place me in it if i be in it i pray god keep me so ah you will never see an effect like that no not while you live for a space there was the silence of the grave men looked wondering into each other s faces and some were awed and crossed themselves and i heard it was beyond the wisdom of man to devise that answer whence come this child s amazing presently took up his work again but the humiliation of his defeat weighed upon him and he made but a rambling and dreary business of it he not being able to put any heart in it he asked a thousand questions about her childhood and about the oak wood and the and the children s games and under our dear f e de and this stirring up of old mark twain memories broke her voice and made her cry a little but she bore up as well as she could and answered everything then the priest finished by touching again upon the matter of her apparel a matter which was never to be lost sight of in this still hunt for this innocent creature s life but kept always hanging over her a menace charged with mournful possibilities would you like a woman s dress indeed yes if i may go out from this prison but here no chapter viii the court met next on monday the th would you believe it the bishop ignored the contract the examination to matters set down in the verbal and again commanded to take the oath without she said you should be content i have sworn enough she stood her ground and had to yield the examination was resumed concerning s voices you have said that you recognized them as being the voices of angels the third time that you heard them what angels were they st and st how did you know that it was those two saints how could you tell the one from the other i know it was they and i know how to distinguish them by what sign by their manner of me i have been these seven years under their direction and i knew who they were because they told me whose was the st voice that came to you when you were thirteen years old it was the voice of st michael i saw him before my eyes and he was not alone but attended by a cloud of angels iii ci mark twain did you see the and the attendant angels in the body or in the spirit i saw them with the eyes of my body just as i see you and when they went away i cried because they did not take me with them it made me see that shadow again that fell dazzling white upon her that day under de and it made me shiver again though it was so long ago it was really not very long gone by but it seemed so because so	34
much had happened it in what shape and form did st michael appear as to that i have not received permission to speak what did the say to you that first time i cannot answer you to day meaning i think that she would have to get permission of her voices first presently after some more questions as to the revelations which had been conveyed through her to the king she complained of the of au this and said i will say again as i have said before many times in these that i answered all questions of this sort before the court at and i would that you would bring here the record of that court and read from that send for that book there was no answer it was a subject that had to be got around and put aside that book had wisely been gotten out of the way for it contained things which would be very awkward here among is recollections of of arc them was a decision that s mission was from god whereas it was the intention of this inferior court to show that it was from the devil also a decision permitting to wear male attire whereas it was the purpose of this court to make the male attire do work against her how was it that you were moved to come into france by your own desire yes and by of god but that it was his will i would not have come i would sooner have had my body torn in by horses than come lacking that shifted once more to the matter of the male attire now and proceeded to make a solemn talk about it that tried s patience and presently she interrupted and said it is a trifling thing and of no consequence and i did not put it on by of any man but by command of god robert de did not order you to wear it no do you think you did well in taking the dress of a man i did well to do whatsoever thing god commanded me to do but in this particular case do you think you did well in taking the dress of a man i have done nothing but by command of god made various attempts to lead her into of herself also to put her words and acts in with the but it was j s mark twain lost time he did not succeed he returned to her visions the light which shone about her relations with the king and so on was there an angel above the king s head the first time you saw him by the blessed mary she forced her impatience down and finished her sentence with tranquillity if there was one i did not see it was there there were more than three hundred soldiers there and five without taking account of spiritual light what made the king believe in the revelations which you brought him he had signs also the counsel of the clergy what revelations were made to the king you will not get that out of me this year presently she added during three weeks i was questioned by the clergy at and the king had a sign before he would believe and the clergy were of opinion that my acts were good and not evil the subject was dropped now for a while and took up the matter of the miraculous sword of to see if he could not find a chance there to fix the crime of upon how did you know that there was an ancient sword in the imder the rear of the altar of the church of st of had no to make as to this i knew the sword was there because my voices is recollections op op arc told me so and i sent to ask that it be given to me to in the wars it seemed to me that it was not very deep in the the clergy of the church caused it to be sought for and dug up and they polished it and the fell easily off from it were you wearing it when you were taken in battle at no but i wore it constantly until i left st after the attack upon paris this sword so mysteriously discovered and so long and so constantly victorious was suspected of being the protection of enchantment was that sword what blessing had been upon it none i loved it because it was found in the of st for i loved that church very dearly she loved it because it had been built in honor of one of her angels didn t you lay it upon the altar to the end that it might be lucky the altar of st no didn t you pray that it might be made lucky truly it were no harm to wish that my harness might be fortunate then it was not that sword which you wore in the field of what sword did you wear there the sword of the d whom i took prisoner in the engagement at i kept it because it was a good war sword good to lay on stout and blows with mark twain she said that quite simply and the contrast be her delicate little self and the grim soldier words which she dropped with such easy familiarity from her lips made many spectators smile what is become of the other sword where is it now is that in the did not answer which do you love best your banner or your sword her eye lighted gladly at the mention of her banner and she cried out i love my banner best oh forty times more than the sword sometimes i carried it myself when i charged the enemy to avoid killing any one then she added and with again that curious contrast between her	34
girlish little personality and her subject i have never killed any one it made a great many smile and no wonder when you consider what a gentle and innocent little thing she looked one could hardly believe she had ever even seen men she looked so little fitted for such things in the final assault at did you tell your soldiers that the arrows shot by the enemy and the stones discharged from their and would not strike any one but you no and the proof is that more than a of my men were struck i told them to have no doubts and no fears that they raise the i was in the neck by an arrow in the assault upon the that commanded the is recollections op op arc bridge but st comforted me and i was cured in fifteen days without having to quit the saddle and leave my work did you know that you were going to be yes and i had told it to the king beforehand i had it from my voices when you took why did you not put its to i offered him leave to go out from the place with all his garrison and if he would not i would take it by storm and you did i believe yes had your voices you to take it by storm as to that i do not remember thus closed a weary long sitting without result every device that could be contrived to trap into wrong thinking wrong doing or to the church or as a little child at home or later had been tried and none of them had succeeded she had come through the ordeal was the court discouraged no naturally it was very much surprised very much astonished to find its work and difficult instead of simple and easy but it had in the shape of cold fatigue persecution deception and treachery and opposed to this array nothing but a and ignorant girl who must some time or other surrender to bodily and mental exhaustion or get caught in one of the thousand traps set for her j mark twain and had the court made no progress these seemingly yes it had been feeling its way groping here groping there and had found one or two vague which might by and by and lead to something the male attire for instance and the visions and voices of course no one doubted that she had seen supernatural beings and been spoken to and advised by them and of course no one doubted that by supernatural help miracles had been done by such as choosing out the king in a crowd when she had never seen him before and her discovery of the sword buried under the altar it would have been foolish to doubt these things for we all know that the air is full of devils and angels that are visible to in magic on the one hand and to the holy on the other but what many and perhaps most did doubt was that s visions voices and miracles came from god it was hoped that in time they could be to have been of origin therefore as you see the court s persistent fashion of coming back to that subject every little while and around it and into it was not to pass the time it had a strictly business end in view chapter ix the next sitting opened on thursday the first of march fifty eight judges present the others resting as usual was required to take an oath with out she showed no temper this time she considered herself well by the verbal compromise which was so anxious to and creep out of so she merely refused distinctly and decidedly and added in a spirit of and but as to matters set down in the verbal i will freely tell the whole truth yes as freely and fully as if i were before the pope here was a chance we had two or three then only one of them be the true pope of course everybody the question of which was the true pope and refrained from him it being clearly dangerous to go into in this matter here was an to trick an girl into bringing herself into peril and the unfair judge lost no time in taking advantage of it he asked in a indolent and absent way which one do you consider to be the true pope the house took an attitude of deep attention and so waited to hear the answer and see the prey walk mark twain into the trap but when the answer came it covered the judge with confusion and you could see for asked in a voice and manner which almost deceived even me so innocent it seemed are there two one of the priests in that body and one of the best there spoke right out so that half the house heard him and said by god it was a master stroke as soon as the judge was better of his embarrassment he came back to the charge but was prudent and passed by s question is it true that you received a letter from the count of asking you which of the three he ought to obey yes and answered it copies of both letters were produced and read said that hers had not been quite strictly copied she said she had received the count s letter when she was just mounting her horse and added so in a word or two of reply i said i would try to answer him from paris or somewhere where i be at rest she was asked again which pope she had considered the right one i was not able to instruct the of as to which one he ought to obey then she added with a frank which fresh and wholesome in that den of	34
and but as for me i hold that we are bound to obey our lord the pope who is at rome x o recollections op or arc the matter was dropped then they produced and read a copy of s first effort at her the english to retire from the siege of and truly a great and fine production for an girl of seventeen do you acknowledge as your own the document which has just been read yes except that there are errors in it words which make me give myself too much importance i saw what was coming i was troubled and ashamed instance i did not say deliver up to the maid d la i said deliver up to the king au and i did not call myself commander in chief de all those are words which my secretary or he me or forgot what i said she did not look at me when she said it she spared me that embarrassment i hadn t her at all and hadn t forgotten i changed her language for she was commander in chief and entitled to call herself so and it was becoming and proper too and who was going to surrender anything to the king at that time a stick a if any was done it would be to the noble maid of already and formidable though she had not yet struck a blow ah there would have been a fine and disagreeable episode for me there if that pitiless court had discovered that the very of that piece of secretary to of arc was present mark twain and not present but helping build the record and not only that but destined at a far distant day to testify against lies and into it by and deliver them over to eternal do you acknowledge that you dictated this i do have you repented of it do you it ah then she was indignant no not even these chains and she shook them not even these chains can chill the hopes that i uttered there and more she rose and stood a moment with a divine strange light in her face then her words burst forth as in a flood i warn you now that before seven years a disaster will the english oh many fold than the fall of and silence sit down and then soon after they all france now consider these things the french armies no longer existed the french cause was standing still our king was still there was no hint that by and by the would come forward and take up the great work of of arc and finish it in face of all this made that prophecy made it with perfect confidence and it came true for within five years paris fell and our king marched into it the victor s flag so the first part of the prophecy was then fulfilled in fact almost the entire prophecy for with paris i a recollections op op arc in our hands the fulfilment of the rest of it was assured twenty years later all was ours excepting a single town now that will remind you of an earlier prophecy of s at the time that she wanted to take paris and could have done it with ease if our king had but consented she said that that was the golden time that with paris ours all would be ours in six months but if this golden to recover france was wasted said she j give you twenty years to do it in she was right after fell in the rest of the work had to be done by city castle by castle and it took twenty years to finish it yes it was the first day of march there in the court that she stood in the view of everybody and uttered that strange and incredible now and then in this world s prophecy turns up correct but when you come to look into it there is sure to be considerable room for suspicion that the prophecy was made after the fact but here the matter is different there in that court s prophecy was set down in the official record at the hour and moment of its utterance years before the fulfilment and there you may read it to this day twenty five years after s death the record was produced in the great court of the and under oath by and me and judges of our court confirmed the of the record in their testimony s startling utterance on that now so mark twain first of march stirred up a great turmoil and it was some time before it down again everybody was troubled for a prophecy is a and thing whether one thinks it from hell or comes down from heaven all that these people felt sure of was that the inspiration back of it was genuine and they would have given their right hands to know the of it at last the questions began again how do you know that those things are going to happen i know it by revelation and i know it as surely as i know that you sit here before me this sort of answer was not going to the spreading therefore after some further the judge got the subject out of the way and took up one which he could enjoy more what language do your voices speak french st too verily why not she is on our side not on the saints and angels who did not condescend to speak english a grave they could not be brought into court and punished for contempt but the could take silent note of s remark and remember it against her which they did it be by and by do your saints and angels wear crowns rings to	34
questions like this were profane x recollections op of arc and not worthy of serious notice she answered indifferently but the question brought to her mind another matter and she turned upon and said i had two rings they have been taken away from me during my you have one of them it is the gift of my brother give it back to me if not to me then i pray that it be given to the church the judges conceived the idea that maybe these rings were for the working of perhaps they could be made to do a damage where is the other ring the have it where did you get it my father and mother gave it to me describe it it is plain and simple and has and mary engraved upon it everybody could see that that was not a valuable to do devil s work with so that trail was not worth following still to make one of the judges asked if she had ever cured sick people by touching them with the ring she said no now as concerning the that were used to abide near by whereof there are many reports and traditions it is said that your surprised these creatures on a summer s night dancing under the tree called de is it not possible that your pretended saints and angels are but those j s mark twain is that in your she made no other answer have you not conversed with st and st under that tree i do not know or by the fountain near the tree yes sometimes what promises did they make you none but such as they had god s warrant for but what promises did they make that is not in your yet i will say this much they told me that the king become master of his kingdom in spite of his enemies and what else there was a pause then she said they promised to lead me to paradise if faces do really betray what is passing in men s minds a fear came upon many in that house at this time that maybe after all a chosen servant and herald of god was here being hunted to her death the interest deepened movements and ceased the stillness became almost painful have you noticed that almost from the beginning the nature of the questions asked showed that in some way or other the very often already knew his fact before he asked his question have you noticed that somehow or other the usually knew just how and where to search for s secrets that they really knew the bulk of her a fact not suspected by her and that they had no task before them but to trick her into exposing tho secrets x recollections op op arc do you remember the the treacherous priest tool of do j u remember that under the sacred seal of the freely and revealed to him everything concerning her history save only a few things regarding her supernatural revelations which her voices had forbidden her to tell to any one and that the judge was a hidden listener all the time now you understand how the were able to devise that long army of questions questions whose and ingenuity and are astonishing until we come to remember s performance and recognize their source ah bishop of you are now this cruel these many years in hell f yes verily unless one has come to your help there is but one among the that would do it and it is futile to hope that that one has not already done it of arc we will return to the court and the did they make you still another promise yes but that is not in your i will not tell it now but before three months will tell it you the judge seems to know the matter he is asking about already one gets this idea from his next question did your voices tell you that you would be before three months often showed a little flash of surprise at the good of the judges and she showed one this time i was frequently in tenor to find my mind mark twain which could not control the voices and saying they counsel her to speak boldly a thing she would do without any suggestion from them or anybody else but when it comes to telling her any useful thing such as how these manage to guess their way so into her affairs they are always off attending to some other business i am by nature and when such thoughts swept through my head they made me cold with fear and if there was a storm and at the time i was so ill that i could but with difficulty abide at my post and do my work answered that is not in your i do not know when i shall be set free but some who wish me out of this world will go from it before me it made some of them shiver have your voices told you that you will be delivered from this prison without a doubt they had and the judge knew it before he asked the question ask me again in three months and i will tell you she said it with such a happy look the tired prisoner and i and drooping yonder why the floods of joy went streaming through us from crown to sole it was all that we could do to hold still and keep from making fatal exposure of our feelings she was to be set free in three months that was what she meant we saw it the voices had told her so and told her true true to the very day recollections of op arc may th but we know now that they had hidden from her how	34
force out of but without success now as to the sign given to the king i have already told you that i will tell you nothing about it do you know what the sign was as to that you will not find out from me all this to s secret interview with the king held apart though two or three others were present it was known through of course that this sign was a crown and was a pledge of the of s mission but that is all a mystery until this day the nature of the crown i mean and will remain a mystery to the end of time we can never know whether a real crown descended upon the king s head or only a symbol the mystic fabric of a vision did you see a crown upon the king s head when he received the revelation recollections op op arc it n ci i i cannot tell you as to that without did the king have that crown at i think the king put upon his head a crown which he found there but a much richer one was brought him afterward have you seen that one i cannot tell you without but whether i have seen it or not i have heard say that it was rich and magnificent they went on and her to weariness about that mysterious crown but they got nothing more out of her the sitting closed a long hard day for all of us chapter x the court rested a day then took up work again on saturday the third of march this was one of our the whole court was out of patience and with good reason these distinguished illustrious legal had left important posts where their was needed to journey hither from various regions and accomplish a most simple and easy matter condemn and send to death a country of nineteen who could neither read nor write knew nothing of the and of legal could call not a single witness in her was allowed no advocate or adviser and must conduct her case by herself against a hostile judge and a packed jury in two she would be hopelessly entangled defeated convicted nothing could be more certain than this so they thought but it was a mistake the two hours had out into days what promised to be a had expanded into a siege the thing which had looked so easy had to be difficult the light victim who was to have been puffed away uke a feather remained planted like a rock and on top of all this if anybody had a right to laugh it was the country and not the court recollections of op arc she was n t doing for was not spirit but others were doing it the whole town was laughing in its sleeve and the court knew it and its dignity was deeply hurt the members not hide their annoyance and so as i have said the was stormy it was easy to see that these men had made up their minds to force words from to day which should up her case and bring it to a prompt conclusion it shows that after all their experience with her they did not know her yet they went into the battle with energy they did not leave the questioning to a particular member no everybody helped they questions at from all over the house and sometimes so many were talking at once that she had to ask them to deliver their fire one at a time and not by the beginning was as usual you are more to take the oath pure and simple i will answer to what is iii the verbal when i do more i will choose the occasion for myself that old ground was and fought over inch by inch with great bitterness and many threats but remained steadfast and the had to shift to other matters half an hour was spent over s their dress hair general appearance and so on in the hope of fishing something of a sort out of the replies but with no result next the male attire was to of course ns hi it mark twain after many well worn questions had been re asked one or two new ones were put forward did not the king or the queen sometimes ask you to quit the male dress that is not in do you think you would have if you had taken the dress of your sex i have done best to serve and obey my sovereign lord and master after a while the matter of s standard was taken up in the hope of connecting magic and with it did not your men copy your banner in their the of my guard did it it was to distinguish them from the rest of the forces it was their own idea were they often renewed yes when the were broken they were renewed the purpose of the questions itself in the next one did you not say to your men that made like banner would be lucky the soldier spirit in was offended at this she drew herself up and said with dignity and fire what i said to them was ride these english down and i did it myself whenever she flung out a scornful speech like that at these french in english livery it lashed them into a rage and that is what happened this there were ten twenty sometimes even t recollections op of arc thirty of them on their feet at a time at the prisoner minute after minute but was not disturbed by and by there was peace and the inquiry was it was now sought to turn against the thousand loving honors which had been done her when she was raising france out of the dirt and	34
shame of a century of slavery and did you not cause paintings and images of yourself to be made no at i saw a painting of myself kneeling in before the king and delivering him a letter but i caused no such things to be made were not masses and prayers said in your honor if it was done it was not by my command but if any prayed for me i think it was no harm did the french people believe you were sent of god as to that i know not but whether they believed it or not i was not the less sent of god if they thought you were sent of god do you think it was well thought if they believed it their trust was not abused what impulse was it think you that moved the people to kiss your hands your feet and your they were glad to see me and so they did those things and i could not have prevented them if i had had the heart those poor people came lovingly to me because i had not done them any hurt but ha mark twain done the best i could for them according to my strength see what modest little words she uses to describe that touching spectacle her about france walled in on both sides by the multitudes they were glad to see me glad why they were transported with joy to see her when they could not kiss her hands or her feet they knelt in the mire and kissed the prints of her horse they her and that is what these priests were trying to prove it was nothing to them that she was not to blame for what other people did no if she was it was enough she was guilty of mortal sin curious logic one must say did you not stand for some children at at i did and at st and i named the boys charles in honor of the king and the girls i named did not women touch their rings to those which you wore yes many did but i did not know their reason for it at was your standard carried into the church did you stand at the altar with it in your hand at the yes in passing through the country did you confess yourself in the churches and receive the yes in the dress of a man recollections op of arc yes but i do not remember that i was in it was almost a concession almost a half surrender of the permission granted her by the church at to dress as a man the court shifted to another matter to pursue this one at this time might call s attention to her small mistake and by her native she might recover her lost ground the had worn her and her it is reported that you brought a dead child to life in the church at was that in answer to your prayers as to that i have no knowledge other young girls were praying for the child and i joined them and prayed also doing no more than they continue while we prayed it came to life and cried it had been dead three days and was as black as my it was straightway then it passed from life again and was buried in holy ground why did you jump from the tower of by night and try to escape i would go to the of it was that this was an attempt to commit the deep crime of suicide to avoid falling into the hands of the english did you not say that you would rather die than be delivered into the power of the english answered frankly without perceiving the trap yes my words were that i would rather that mark twain my soul be unto god than that i should fall into the hands of the it was now that when she came to after jumping from the tower she was angry and the name of god and that she did it again when she heard of the of the of she was hurt and indignant at this and said it is not true i have never cursed it is not my custom to swear chapter xi a halt was called it was time was losing ground in the fight was gaining it there were signs that here and there in the court a judge was being softened toward by her courage her presence of mind her fortitude her constancy her piety her simplicity and her manifest purity the nobility of her character her fine intelligence and the good brave fight she was making all and alone against unfair odds and there was grave room for fear that this softening process would spread f and presently bring s plans in danger something must be done and it was done was not distinguished for compassion but he now gave proof that he had it in his character he thought it pity to subject so many judges to the of this trial when it could be conducted plenty well enough by a handful of them oh gentle judge but he did not remember to the for the little captive he would let all the judges but a handful go but he would select the handful himself and he did he chose if a lamb or two got in it was by not intention and he knew what to do with when discovered i i mark twain he called a small council now and during five days they the huge bulk of answers thus far gathered from they it of all all useless matter that is all matter favorable to they saved up all matter which could be twisted to her hurt and out of this they constructed a basis for a new trial which should have the semblance of a of the old one	34
another change it was plain that the public trial had wrought damage its proceedings had been discussed all over the town and had moved many to pity the abused prisoner there should be no more of that the should be secret hereafter and no spectators admitted so could come no more i sent this news to him i had not the heart to carry it myself i would give the pain a chance to before i should see him in the evening on the loth of march the secret trial a week had passed since i had seen her appearance gave me a great shock she looked tired and weak she was and far away and her answers showed that she was dazed and not able to keep perfect run of all that was done and said another court would not have taken advantage of her state seeing that her ufe was at stake here but would have and spared her did this one no it worried her for hours and with a glad and eager ferocity making all it could out of this great chance the first one it had had she was tortured into herself concerning the sign which had been given the king and of of arc the next day this was continued hour after hour as a she made partial of particulars forbidden by her voices and seemed to me to state as facts things which were but and visions mixed with facts the third day she was brighter and looked less worn she was almost her normal self again and did her work well many attempts were made to her into saying but she saw the purpose in view and answered with tact and wisdom do you know if st and st hate the english they love whom our lord loves and hate whom he hates does god hate the english of the love or the hatred of god toward the english i know nothing then she spoke up with the old martial ring in her voice and the old audacity in her words and added but i know this that god will send victory to the french and that all the english will be flung out of france but the dead ones was god on the side of the english when they were prosperous in france i do not know if god hates the french but i think that he allowed them to be for their it was a sufficiently way to for a which had now strung out for years but nobody found fault with it there was nobody there who would not a sinner ninety six years if he could nor anybody there who mark twain would ever dream of such a thing as the lord s being any shade less than men have you ever embraced st and st yes both of them the evil face of betrayed satisfaction when she said that when you hung upon de did you do it in honor of your no satisfaction again no doubt would take it for granted that she hung them there out of sinful love for the when the saints appeared to you did you bow did you make reverence did you kneel yes i did them the most honor and the most reverence that i could a good point for if he could eventually make it appear that these were no saints to whom she had done reverence but devils in disguise now there was the matter of s keeping her supernatural commerce a secret from her parents much might be made of that in fact particular emphasis had been given to it in a private remark written in the margin of the she concealed her visions from her parents and from every one possibly this to her parents might itself be the sign of the source of her mission do you think it was right to go away to the wars without getting your parents leave it is written one must honor his father and his mother recollections op of arc i have obeyed them in all things but that and for that i have begged their forgiveness in a letter and gotten it ah you asked their pardon so you knew you were guilty of sin in going without their leave was stirred her eyes flashed and she exclaimed i was commanded of god and it was right to go if i had had a fathers and mothers and been a king s daughter to boot i have gone did you never ask your voices if you might tell your parents they were willing that i should tell them but i would not for anything have given my parents that pain to the minds of the this conduct of pride that sort of pride would move one to seek did not your voices call you daughter of god answered with simplicity and yes before the siege of and since they have several times called me daughter of god further indications of pride and vanity were sought what horse were you riding when you were captured who gave it you v the king you had other things riches of the king myself i had horses and arms and money to pay the service in my household had you not a treasury mark twain yes ten or twelve thousand crowns then she said with it was not a great sum to on a war with you have it yet no it is the king s money my bit hold it for him what were the arms which you left as an in the church of st my suit of silver and a sword did you put them there in order that they might be adored no it was but an act of devotion and it is the custom of men of war who have been wounded to make such offering there i had been wounded before	34
paris nothing appealed to those stony hearts those not even this pretty picture so simply drawn of the wounded girl soldier hanging her toy harness there in curious companionship with the grim and dusty iron mail of the historic of no there was nothing in it for them nothing unless evil and injury for that innocent creature be gotten out of it which aided most you the standard or the standard you whether it was the standard or whether it was i is nothing the came from god but did you base your hopes of victory in yourself or in standard in neither in god and not was not your standard waved the king s bead at the recollections of of arc no it was not why was it that your standard had place at the crowning of the king in the cathedral of rather than those of the other captains then soft and low came that touching speech which wiu as long as language and pass into all tongues and move all gentle hearts it shall come down to the latest day li had home the burden it had earned ike how simple it is and how beautiful d how it beggars the studied eloquence of the masters of eloquence was a native gift of of arc it came from her lips without effort and without preparation h words were as sublime as her deeds as sublime as her character the had their source in a great heart and were in a great brain what she said has been many times translated but never with success there is a haunting pathos about the original which all efforts to convey it into our it is subtle as and escapes in the her words were these ii su a la c u a general to the of finely speaks of it d arc la page as that sublime reply enduring in the history of celebrated sayings like the cry of a french and christian soul wounded unto death in its i d its chapter xii now as a next move this small secret court of holy did a thing so base that even at this day in my old age it is hard to speak of it with patience in the beginning of her commerce with her voices there at the child solemnly devoted her life to god her pure body and her pure soul to his service you will remember that her parents tried to stop her from going to the wars by her to the court at to compel her to make a marriage which she had never promised to make a marriage with our poor good windy big hard fighting and most dear and lamented comrade the standard bearer who fell in honorable battle and sleeps in god these sixty years peace to his ashes and you will remember how sixteen years old stood up in that venerable court and conducted her case all by herself and tore the poor s case to rags and blew it away with a breath and how the astonished old judge on the bench spoke of her as this child you remember all that then think what i felt to see these false priests here in the wherein had fought a fourth lone fight in three years deliberately twist that matter entirely around and try i recollections of of arc to make out that the into court and pretended that he had promised to marry her and was bent on making him do it certainly there was no that those people were ashamed to stoop to in their hunt for that girl s life what they wanted to show was this that she had committed the sin of from her vow and to it detailed the true history of the case but lost her temper as she went along and finished with some words for which he remembers yet whether he is himself in the world he belongs in or has his way into the other the rest of this day and part of the next the court labored upon the old theme the male attire it was shabby work for those grave men to be engaged in for they well knew one of s reasons for clinging to the male dress was that soldiers of the guard were rs present in her room whether she was asleep or awake and that the male dress was a better protection for her modesty than the other the court knew that one of s purposes had been the of the duke of and they were curious to know how she had intended to manage it her plan was and her statement of it as simple and straightforward i would have taken english prisoners enough in for his and failing that i would have invaded england and brought him out by force mark twain that w s just her t y k a thing was to be done it was love first and hammer and to follow but no between she added with a little sigh if i had had thy freedom three i would have delivered him have you the permission of your to break out whenever you can i have asked their leave severed times but they have not given it i think it is a i have said expected the of death and within the prison walls before the three months should would you escape if you saw the doors open she spoke up frankly and said yes for i should see in that the permission of our god helps who help themselves the proverb says but except i thought i bad permission i would go now then at this point something occurred which me every time i think of it and it struck me so at the time that for a moment at least her hopes wandered to the king and put	34
into her mind the same notion about her which and i had settled upon a rescue by her old soldiers i think the idea of the rescue did occur to her but only as a passing thought and that it quickly passed away some remark of the bishop of moved her to remind him once more that he was an unfair judge and had no right to there and that he was putting himself in great danger recollections of of arc what he asked i do not know st has promised me but i do not know the form c it i do not know whether i am to be delivered from this prison or whether when you send me to the there will happen a trouble by which i shall be set free without much thought as to this matter i am of the opinion that it may be or the other after a pause she added these words memorable forever words whose meaning she may have m as to that we can never know words which she may have rightly under as to that also we can never know but words whose mystery fell away from them many a year ago and revealed their real meaning to all the world but what my voices have said is that i shall be delivered by a great victory she paused my heart was beating fast for to me that great victory meant the sudden in of our old soldiers with war cry and dash of steel at the last moment and the carrying off of of arc in triumph but oh that thought had such a short life i for now she raised her head and finished with those solemn words which men still so often quote and dwell upon words which filled me with fear they so like a and always they submit to whatever do not grieve for your from it you will ascend into the kingdom of paradise was she of fire and the stake i think not i ht of it myself but i believe she was only thinking of this slow and cruel of mark twain chains and and insult surely was the right name for it it was de la who was asking the questions he was willing to make the most he could out of what she had said as the voices have told you you are going to paradise you feel certain that that will happen and that you will not be damned in hell is that so i believe what they told me i know that i shall be saved it is a answer to me the knowledge that i shall be saved is a great treasure do you think that after that revelation you could be able to commit mortal sin as to that i do not know my hope for salvation is in holding fast to my oath to keep my body and my soul pure since you know you are to be saved do you think it necessary to go to confession the was devised but s simple and answer left it empty one cannot keep his conscience too clean we were now arriving at the last day of this new trial had come through the ordeal well it had been a long and wearisome struggle for all concerned all ways had been tried to the accused and all had failed thus far the were thoroughly vexed and dissatisfied however they resolved to make one effort put in one more day s work this was done march th early in the sitting a notable trap was set for recollections op op arc will you submit to the determination of the church all your words and deeds whether good or bad that was well planned was in imminent peril now k she should say yes it would put her mission itself upon trial and one would know how to decide its source and character promptly if she say no she would render herself with the crime of but she was equal to the occasion she drew a distinct line of separation between the church s authority over her as a subject member and the matter of her mission she said she loved the church and was ready to support the christian faith with all her strength but as to the works done under her mission those must be judged by god alone who had commanded them to be done the judge still insisted that she submit them to the decision of the church she said i will submit them to our lord who sent me it would seem to me that he and his are one and that there should be no difficulty about this matter then she turned upon the judge and said why do you make a difficulty where there is no room for any then de la corrected her notion that there was but one church there were two the church triumphant which is god the saints the angels and the and has its seat in heaven and the church which is our holy father the pope of god the the clergy and all good christians and the which n mark twain has its seat in the earth is governed by the holy spirit and cannot will you not submit those matters to the church i am come to the king of from the church triumphant on high by its and to that church i will submit all those things which i have done for the church i have no other answer now the court took note of this refusal and would hope to get profit out of it but the matter was dropped for the present and a long chase was then made over the old hunting the the visions the male attire and all that in the afternoon the bishop himself took the chair and presided over the	34
closing scenes of the trial along toward the finish this question was asked by one of the judges you have said to my lord the bishop that you would answer him as you would answer before our holy father the pope yet there are several questions which you continually refuse to answer would you not answer the pope more fully than you have answered before my lord of would you not fed obliged to answer the pope who is the of god more fully now fell a thunder out of a dear sky take me to the pope i will answer to everything that i ought to it made the bishop s purple face fairly with consternation if had only known if she had only known she had lodged a mine this black conspiracy able to blow the bishop s recollections of of arc schemes to the four winds of heaven and she didn t know il she had made that speech by mere instinct not suspecting what tremendous forces were hidden in it and there was none to tell her what she had done i knew and knew and if she had known how to read writing we could have hoped to get the knowledge to her somehow but speech was the only way and none was allowed to approach her near enough for that so there she sat once more of arc the victorious but all unconscious of it she was miserably worn and tired by the long day s struggle and by illness or she must have noticed the effect of that speech and divined the reason of it she had made many master strokes but this was the master stroke it was an appeal to rome it was her clear right and if she had persisted in it s plot would have tumbled about his ears like a house of cards and he would have gone from that place the worst beaten man of the century he was daring but he was not daring enough to stand up against that demand if had urged it but no she was ignorant poor thing and did not know what a blow she had struck for life and liberty was not the church rome had no interest in the destruction of this messenger of god rome would have given her a fair trial and that was all that her needed from that trial she would have gone forth free and honored and blessed but it was so fated at ed mark twain the questions to other matters and hurried the trial quickly to an end as moved feebly away dragging her chains i felt stunned and dazed and kept saying to myself such a little while ago she said the saving word and could have gone free and now there she goes to her death yes it is to her death i know it i feel it they will double the guards they will never let any come near her now between this and her condemnation lest she get a hint and speak that word again this is the bitterest day that has come to me in all this miserable time chapter xiii so the second trial in the prison was over over and no definite result the character of it i have described to you it was in one particular than the previous one for this time the charges had not been communicated to therefore she had been obliged to fight in the dark there was no opportunity to do any thinking beforehand there was no what traps might be set and no way to prepare for them truly it was a shabby advantage to take of a girl situated as this one was one day during the course of it an able lawyer of happened to be in and i will give you his opinion of that trial so that you may see that i have been honest with you and that my has not made me deceive you as to its air and character showed the and asked his opinion about the trial now this was the opinion which he gave to he said that the whole thing was and void for these reasons i because the trial was secret and full freedom of speech and action on the part of those present not possible because the trial touched the honor of the king of yet he was not summoned to defend himself nor any one appointed to represent mark twain him because the charges against the prisoner were not communicated to her because the accused although yoimg and simple had been forced to defend her cause without help of counsel notwithstanding she had so much at stake did that please bishop it did not he burst out upon with the most savage and swore he would have him drowned escaped from and got out of france with all speed and so saved his life well as i have said the second trial was over without definite result but did not give up he could up another and still another and another if necessary he had the of an enormous prize the of if he should succeed in burning the body and to hell the soul of this young girl who had never done him any harm and such a prize as that to a man like the bishop of was worth the burning and of fifty harmless girls let alone one so he set to work again straight os next day and with high confidence too with brutal cheerfulness that he should succeed this time it took him and the other nine days to dig matter enough out of s testimony and their own inventions to build up the new mass of and it was a formidable mass indeed for it numbered sixty six articles this huge document was carried to the castle the next day march th and there before a dozen	34
carefully selected judges the new trial was begun x recollections of of arc opinions were taken and the decided that should hear the articles read this time maybe that was on account of s remark upon that head or maybe it was hoped that the reading would kill the prisoner with fatigue for as it turned out this reading occupied several days it was also decided that should be required to answer to every article and that if she refused she should be considered convicted you see was managing to narrow her chances more and more all the time he was drawing the toils closer and closer was brought in and the bishop of opened with a speech to her which ought to have made even himself blush so laden it was with and lies he said that this court was composed of holy and pious whose hearts were full of benevolence and compassion toward her and that they had no wish to hurt her body but only a desire to instruct her and lead her into the way of truth and salvation why this man was bom a devil now think of his describing himself and those hardened slaves of his in such language as that and yet worse was to come for now having in mind another of s hints he had the cold to make to a proposition which i think wiu surprise you when you hear it he said that this court her estate and her inability to deal with the complex and matters which were about to be considered had determined out of their pity and their mark twain to her to choose one or more persons of their own number to help her with counsel and advice think of that a court made up of and his breed of it was leave to a lamb to ask help of a wolf looked up to see if he was serious and perceiving that he was at least pretending to be she declined of course the bishop was not expecting any other reply he had made a show of and could have it entered on the minutes therefore he was satisfied then he commanded to answer to every accusation and threatened to cut her off from the church if she failed to do that or delayed her answers beyond a given length of time yes he was her chances down step by step thomas de began the reading of that interminable article by article answered to each article in its sometimes merely its truth sometimes by saying her answer would be found in the records of the previous trials what a strange that was and what an exhibition and exposure of the heart of man the one creature to boast that he is made in the image of god to know of arc was to know one who was wholly noble e truthful brave compassionate generous pious unselfish modest as the very flowers in the fields a nature fine and beautiful a character great to know her from that would be to know her as the exact reverse of all that nothing that she was appears in it everything that she was not u s there in detail recollections op op arc consider some of the things it charges against her and remember who it is it is of it her a a false prophet an and companion of evil spirits a dealer in magic a person ignorant of the catholic faith a she is an an a of god and his saints scandalous a of the peace she men to war and to the of human blood she the and of her sex assuming the dress of a man and the of a soldier she both princes and people she divine honors and has caused herself to be adored and her hands and her to be kissed there it is every fact of her life distorted reversed as a child she had loved the she had spoken a pitying word for them when they were banished from their home she had played their tree and around their fountain hence she was a comrade of evil spirits she had lifted out of the mud and moved her to strike for freedom and led her to victory after victory hence she was a of the peace as indeed she was and a of war as indeed she was again and france wiu be proud of it and grateful for it for many a century to come and she had been adored as if she could help that poor thing or was in any way to blame for it the and the wavering had drunk the spirit of war from her eyes and touched her sword with theirs and moved forward invincible whence she was a i mark twain and so the document went on detail by detail turning these waters of life to poison this gold to these proofs of a noble and beautiful life to evidences of a foul and odious one of course the sixty six articles were just a of the things which had come up in the course of the previous trials so i will touch upon this new trial but lightly in fact went but little into detail herself usually merely that is not true or i have answered that before let the clerk read it in his record or a ring some other brief thing she refused to have her mission examined and tried by the earthly church the refusal was taken note of she denied the accusation of and that she had sought men s homage she said if any kissed my hands and my it was not by my desire and i did what i to prevent it she had the pluck to say to that deadly that she did not know the to be evil beings	34
she knew it was a perilous thing to say but it was not in her nature to speak anything but the truth when she spoke at au danger had no weight with her in such things note was taken of her remark she refused as always before when asked if she would put off the male attire if she were given permission to and she added this when one receives the the manner of his dress is a small thing and of no value in the eyes of our lord recollections of of arc she was charged with being so stubborn in to her male dress that she would not lay it off even to get the blessed privilege of hearing mass she spoke out with spirit and said i rather die than be to my oath to god she was reproached with doing man s work in the wars nd thus the proper to her sex she answered with some little touch of disdain as to the matter of women s work there s plenty to do it it was always a comfort to me to see the soldier spirit crop up in her while that remained in her she would be of arc and able to look trouble and fate in the face it appears that this mission of yours which you claim you had from god was to make war and pour out human blood replied quite simply herself with explaining that war was not her first move but her second to begin with i demanded that peace should be made if it was refused then i would fight the judge mixed the and english together in speaking of the enemy which had come to make war upon but she showed that she made a distinction between them by act and word the being and therefore entitled to less treatment than the english he said a t the duke of i required pf him q mark twain both by letters and by his that he make peace with the king as to the english the only peace for them was that they leave the country and go home then she said that even with the english she had shown a pacific disposition since she had warned them away by before attacking them if they had listened to me said she they have done wisely at this point she uttered her prophecy again saying with emphasis before seven years they will see it themselves then they presently began to her again about her male and tried to persuade her to promise to it i was never deep so i think it no wonder that i was puzzled by their in what seemed a thing of no consequence and could not make out what their reason could be but we all know now we all know now that it was another of their treacherous projects yes if they but succeed in getting her to formally it they could play a game upon her which would quickly destroy her so they kept at their evil work at last she broke out and said peace without the permission of god i will not lay it off though you cut off my head at one point she corrected the verbal saying it makes me say that everything which i have done was done by the of our lord i did not say that i said all which i have weu done doubt was cast upon the of her s recollections op op arc mission because of the ignorance and simplicity of the messenger chosen smiled at that she have reminded these people that our lord who is no of persons had chosen the lowly for his high purposes even of than he had chosen and but she her rebuke in terms it is the of our lord to choose his instruments where he wiu she was asked what form of prayer she used in from on high she said the form was brief and simple then she lifted her pallid face and repeated it clasping her chained hands most dear god in honor of holy passion i you if you love me that you will reveal to me what i am to answer to these as concerns my dress i know by what command i have put it on but i know not in what manner i am to lay it off i pray you tell me what to do she was charged with having dared against the of god and his saints to empire over men and make herself commander in chief that touched the soldier in her she had a deep reverence for priests but the soldier in her had but small reverence for a priest s opinions about war so in her answer to this charge she did not condescend to go into any explanations or excuses but delivered herself with bland indifference and military if i was commander in chief it was to the english death was staring her in the face here all the mark twain time but no matter she dearly loved to make these english hearted and whenever they gave her an opening she was prompt to her sting into it she got great refreshment out of these little her days were a desert these were the in it her being in the wars with men was charged against her as an she said tn towns and lodgings in the field i always slept in my that she and her family had been by the king was charged against her as evidence that the source of her deeds were sordid self seeking she answered that she had not asked this grace of the king it was his own act this third trial was ended at last and once again there was no definite result possibly a fourth trial might succeed in this apparently girl so the bishop set himself to work to plan it	34
he appointed a commission to reduce the substance of the six articles to twelve compact lies as a basis for the new attempt this was done it took several days meantime went to s cell one day with and two of the judges de la and martin to see if he could not manage somehow to into her mission to the examination and decision of the church that is to say to that part of the church which was represented by himself and his creatures recollections of of arc once more positively refused de la had a heart in his body and he so pitied this persecuted poor girl that he ventured to do a very daring thing for he asked her if she be willing to have her case go before the council of and said it contained as many priests of her party as of the english party cried out that she would gladly go before so fairly constructed a as that but before could say another word turned savagely upon him and exclaimed shut up in the devil s then ventured to do a brave thing too though he did it in great fear for his life he asked if he should enter s submission to the of upon the minutes no i it is not necessary ah said poor reproachfully you set down everything that is against me but you will not set down what is for me it was piteous it would have touched the heart of a brute but was more than that chapter xiv we were now in the first days of april was ill she had ill the th of march the day after the close of the third trial and was growing worse when the scene which i have just described occurred in her cell it was just like to go there and try to get some advantage out of her weakened state let us note some of the particulars in the new the twelve lies part of the first one says that she has found her salvation she never said anything of the kind it also says she refuses to submit herself to the church not true she was willing to submit all her acts to this except those done by command of god in fulfilment of her mission those she reserved for the judgment of god she refused to recognize and his as the church but was willing to go before the pope or the council of a of another of the twelve says she admits having threatened with death those who would not obey her distinctly false another says she declares that all she has done has been done by command of god what she really said was all that she had done well a made by herself as you have already seen recollections of of arc another of the twelve says she claims that she has never committed any sin she never made any such claim another makes the wearing of the male dress a sin if it was she had high catholic authority for committing it that of the of and the of the tenth article was against her for pretending that st and st spoke french and not english and were french in their politics the twelve were to be submitted first to the learned doctors of of the university of paris for approval they were copied out and ready by the night of april th then did another bold thing he wrote in the margin that many of the twelve put statements in s mouth which were the exact opposite of what she had said that fact would not be considered important by the university of paris and would not influence its decision or stir its humanity in case it had any which it hadn t when acting in a political capacity as at present but it was a brave thing for that good to do all the same the twelve were sent to paris next day april that afternoon there was a great tumult in and excited crowds were through all the chief streets chattering and seeking for news for a report had gone abroad that of arc was sick unto death in truth these long had worn her out and she was ill indeed the heads of the english party were in a state of consternation ix mark twain for if should die by the church and go to the grave the pity and the love of the people would turn her wrongs and sufferings and death into a holy and she would be even a power in dead than she had been when alive the earl of and the english cardinal hurried to the castle and sent messengers flying for was a hard man a rude coarse man a man without compassion there lay the sick girl stretched in her chains in her iron cage not an object to move man to speech one would think yet spoke right out in her hearing and said to the mind you take good care of her the king of england has no mind to have her die a natural death she is dear to him for he bought her dear and he does not want her to die save at the stake now then mind you cure her the doctors asked what had made her ill she said the bishop of had sent her a fish and she thought it was that then d burst out on her and called her names and abused her he understood to be charging the bishop with her you see and that was not pleasing to him for he was one of s most loving and slaves and it outraged him to have injure his master in the eyes of these great english chiefs these being men who could ruin and would promptly do it if they got the	34
conviction that he was capable of saving from the stake by her and x recollections op op arc thus the english out of all the real value by her purchase from the duke of had a high fever and the doctors proposed to her said be careful about that she is smart and is capable of killing herself he meant that to escape the stake she might the and let herself to death but the doctors her anyway and then she was better not for long though d could not hold still he was so worried and angry about the suspicion of which had hinted at so he came back in the evening and at her till he brought the fever all back again when heard of this he was in a fine temper you may be sure for here was his prey threatening to escape again and all through the over zeal of this fool gave d a quite admirable cursing admirable as to strength i mean for it was said by persons of culture that the art of it was not good and after that the kept still remained ill more than two weeks then she grew better she was still very weak but she could bear a little persecution now without much danger to her life it seemed to a good time to furnish it so he called together some of his doctors of and went to her and i went along to keep the record that is to set down what might be useful to and leave out the rest f i mark twain the sight of gave me a shock why she was but a shadow it was difficult for me to realize that this frail little creature with the sad face and drooping form was the same of arc that i had so often seen all fire and enthusiasm charging through a hail of death and the lightning and thunder of the guns at the head of her it wrung my heart to see her looking like this but was not touched he made another of those speeches of his all dripping with and he told that among her answers had been some which had seemed to religion and as she was ignorant and without knowledge of the he had brought some good and wise men to instruct her if she desired it said he we are and disposed by our good will as weu as by our to procure for you the salvation of your soul and your body in every way in our power just as we would do the like for our nearest kin or for ourselves in this we but follow the example of holy church who never the refuge of her bosom against any that are willing to return thanked him for these sayings and said seem to be in danger of death from this malady if it be the pleasure of god that i die here i beg that i may be heard in confession and also receive my and that i may be buried in consecrated ground thought he saw his at last this weakened body had the fear of an death before it and the pains of to follow this recollections of of arc stubborn spirit would surrender now so he spoke out and said then if you want the you must do as all good do and submit to the church he was eager for her answer but when it came there was no surrender in it she still stood to her guns she turned her head away and said wearily i have nothing more to say s temper was stirred and he raised his voice and said that the more she was in danger of death the more she ought to her life and again he refused the things she begged for unless she would submit to the church said if i die in this prison i beg you to have me buried in holy if you will not i cast myself upon my there was some more conversation of the like sort then demanded again and that she submit herself and all her deeds to the church his threatening and went for nothing that body was weak but the spirit in it was the spirit of of arc and out of that came the steadfast answer which these people were already so familiar with and detested so sincerely let come what may i will neither do nor say any otherwise than i have said already in your then the good took turn about and worried her with and arguments and and always they held the of the before her soul and tried to bribe her with them to surrender her mission mark twain to the church s judgment that is to their judgment as if they were the church but it availed nothing i could have told them that beforehand if they had asked me but they never asked me anything i was too humble a creature for their notice then the interview closed with a threat a threat of fearful import a threat calculated to make a catholic christian feel as if the ground were sinking from him the church calls upon you to submit and she will abandon you as if you were a pagan think of being abandoned by the church that august power in whose hands is lodged the fate of the human race whose stretches beyond the that in the sky whose authority is over the millions that live and over the that wait trembling in for or doom whose smile opens the gates of heaven to you whose frown you to the fires of everlasting hell a power whose dominion and earthly empire as earthly empire and the and shows of a village to be abandoned by one s king yes that is death and death is much but to	34
be abandoned by rome to be abandoned by the church ah death is nothing to that for that is to endless life and such a life i could see the red waves tossing in that lake of fire i could see the black of the damned rise out of them and struggle and sink and i again i i w that was seeing l x recollections of of arc saw while she paused musing and i believed that she must now and in truth i hoped she would for these men were able to make the threat good and her over to eternal suffering and i knew that it was in their natures to do it but i was foolish to think that thought and hope that hope of arc was not made as others are made fidelity to principle fidelity to truth fidelity to her word all these were in her bone and in her flesh they were parts of her she could not change she could not cast them out she was the very genius of fidelity she was where she had taken her stand and planted her foot there she would abide hell itself could not move her from that place her voices had not given her permission to make the sort of submission that was therefore she would stand fast she wait ia perfect obedience let come what might my heart was like lead in my body when i went out from that but she she was serene she was not troubled she had done what she believed to be her duty and that was the consequences were not her affair the last thing she said that time was full of this serenity full of contented repose i am a good christian bom land and a good christian i will die chapter xv two weeks went by the second of may was come the chill was departed out of the air the wild flowers were springing in the and the birds were in the woods all nature was brilliant with sunshine all spirits were renewed and refreshed all hearts glad the world was alive with hope and cheer the plain beyond the stretched away soft and rich and green the river was and lovely the leafy islands were dainty to see and flung still reflections of themselves upon the shining water and from the tall above the bridge was become again a delight to the eye the most exquisite and satisfying picture of a town that the arch of heaven anywhere when i say that all hearts were glad and hopeful i mean it in a general sense there were exceptions we who were the friends of of arc also of arc herself that poor girl shut up there in that frowning stretch of mighty walls and towers brooding in darkness so close tb the of sunshine yet so far away from it so longing for any little glimpse of it yet so denied it by those wolves in the black gowns who were her death and the of her good name recollections of of arc was ready to go on with his miserable work he had a new scheme to try now he see what persuasion could do argument eloquence out upon the captive from the mouth of a trained expert that was his plan but the reading of the twelve articles to her was not a part of it no even was ashamed to lay that before her even he had a remnant of shame in him away down deep a million deep and that remnant asserted itself now and prevailed on this fair second of may then the black company gathered itself together in the spacious chamber at the end of the great hall of the castle the bishop of on his throne and sixty two minor judges before him with the guards and at their stations and the orator at his desk then we heard the far of chains and entered with her and took hei seat upon her isolated bench she was looking well now and most fair and beautiful after her fortnight s rest from persecution she glanced about and noted the orator doubtless she divined the situation the orator had written his speech all out and had it in his hand though he held it back of him out of sight it was so thick that it resembled a book he began flowing but in the midst of a period his memory failed him and he had to snatch a glance at his manuscript which much injured the effect again this happened and a third time the poor man s face was red with mark twain the whole great house was pitying him which made the matter worse then dropped in a remark which completed his trouble she said read your book and then i will answer you i why it was almost cruel the way those laughed and as for the orator he looked so and helpless that almost anybody would have pitied him and i had to keep from doing it myself yes was feeling very well after her rest and the native mischief that was in her lay near the surface it did not show when she made the remark but i knew it was close in there back of the words when the orator had gotten back his composure he did a wise thing for he followed s advice he made no more attempts at sham but read his speech straight from his book in the speech he compressed the twelve articles into six and made these his text every now and then he stopped and asked questions and replied the nature of the was explained and once more was asked to submit herself to it she gave her usual answer then she was asked do you believe the church can i believe it cannot but for	34
those deeds and words of mine which were done and uttered by command of god i will answer to him alone will you say that you have no judge upon earth is not our holy father the pope your judge x recollections of of arc i will say nothing to you about it i have a good master who is our lord and to him i will submit all then came these terrible words if you do not submit to the church you will be pronounced a by these judges here present and burned at the stake ah that have smitten you or me dead with fright but it only roused the lion heart of of arc and in her answer rang that martial note which had used to stir her soldiers like a call i will not say otherwise than i have said already and if i saw the fire before me i would say it again it was to hear her battle voice once more and see the battle light bum in her eye many there were stirred every man that was a man was stirred whether friend or foe and risked his life again good soul for he wrote in the margin of the record in good plain letters these brave words and there they have remained these sixty years and there you may read them to this day yes it was just that for this superb answer came from the of a girl of nineteen with death and hell staring her in the face of course the matter of the male attire was gone over again and as usual at wearisome length also as usual the customary bribe was offered if she would that dress they would let her hear mass but she answered as she had often answered before mark twain i will go in a woman s robe to all services of the church if i may be permitted but i will the other dress when i return to my cell they set several traps for her in a form that is to say they placed before her and tried to commit her to one end of the without committing themselves to the other but she always saw the game and spoiled it the trap was in this form would you be willing to do so and so if we give you leave her answer was always in this form or to this effect when you give me leave then you will know yes was at her best that second of may she had all her wits about her and they could not catch her it was a long long and all the old ground was fought over again foot by foot and the orator expert worked all his all his eloquence but the result was the familiar one a drawn battle the sixty two retiring upon their base the solitary enemy holding her original position within her original lines chapter xvi the brilliant weather the heavenly weather the weather made everybody s heart to sing as i have told you yes was feeling light hearted and gay and most willing and ready to break out and laugh upon the least occasion and so when the news went that the young girl in the tower had another defeat against bishop there was abundant laughter laughter among the citizens of both parties for they all hated the bishop it is true the majority of the people wanted burned but that did not keep them from laughing at the man they hated it have been perilous for anybody to laugh at the english chiefs or at the majority of s assistant judges but to laugh at or d and was safe nobody would report it the difference between and was not noticeable in speech and so there was plenty of opportunity for the were not thrown away some of the jokes got well worn in the course of two or three months from repeated use for every time started a new trial the folk said the pig mark twain sow has again and every time the trial failed they said it over again with its other meaning the has made a mess of it and so on the third of may and i drifting about the town heard many a wide mouthed let go his joke and his laugh and then move to the next group proud of his wit and happy to work it off again blood the sow has five times and five times has made a mess of it and now and then one was bold enough to say but he said it softly sixty three and the might of england against a girl and she on the field five times lived in the great palace of the and it was guarded by english but no matter there was never a dark night but the walls showed next morning that the rude had been there with his paint and brush yes he had been there and had the sacred walls with pictures of in all attitudes except flattering ones clothed in a bishop s and wearing a bishop s cocked on the side of their heads raged and cursed over his and his during seven days then he conceived a new scheme you shall see what it was for you have not cruel hearts and you would never guess it on the ninth of may there was a and and i got our materials together and started but this time we were to go to one of the to utter to also to m me ol l recollections op of arc other towers not the one which was s prison it was round and grim and massive and built of the and and sl dismal and forbidding structure we entered the circular room on the ground floor and i saw what turned me sick	34
the instruments of torture and the standing ready here you have the black heart of at the here you have the proof that in his nature there was no such thing as pity one wonders if he ever knew his mother or ever had a sister was there and the vice and the of st also six others among them that false the guards were in the rack was there and by it stood the and his in their crimson and meet color for their bloody trade the picture of rose before me stretched upon the rack her feet tied to one end of it her wrists to the other and those red giants turning the and pulling her limbs out of their it seemed to me that i could hear the bones snap and the flesh tear apart and i did not see how that body of servants of the merciful could sit there and look so placid and indifferent after a little arrived and was brought in she saw the rack she saw the attendants and the same picture which i had been seeing must have risen in her mind but do you think she do you think she shuddered no there was no the lower half of it to day just as it was then the upper is of a later date a mark twain sign of that sort she straightened herself up and there was a slight curl of scorn about her but as for fear she showed not a of it this was a memorable but it was the shortest one of all the list when had taken her seat a r of her crimes was read to her then made a solemn speech in it he said that in the course of her several trials had refused to answer some of the questions and answered others with lies but that now he was going to have the truth out of her and the whole of it his manner was full of confidence this time he was sure he had f a way at last to break this child s stubborn spirit and make her beg and cry he would score a victory this time and stop the mouths of the of you see he was only just a man after all and t stand ridicule better than other he talked high and his face lighted itself up with all the shifting tints and signs of evil pleasure and promised triumph purple yellow red green they were all there with sometimes the dull and blue of a drowned man the of them all and finally he burst out in a great passion and said there is the rack and there are its ministers you will reveal all now or be put to the torture speak then she made that great answer which will live forever made it without fuss or and yet how fine and noble was the sound of it i will tell you nothing more than i have told of of recollections op op arc you no not even if you tear the limbs from my body and even if in my pain i did say something otherwise i would always say d that it was the e that spoke and not i there was no crushing that spirit you should have seen defeated again and he had not dreamed of such a thing i heard it said next day the town that he had a full confession all written out in his pocket and all ready for to sign i do not know that that was true but it probably was for her mark signed at the bottom of a confession would be the kind of evidence for effect with the which and his people would particularly value you know no there was no crushing that spirit and no that dear mind consider the depth the wisdom of that answer coming from an ignorant girl why there were not six men in the world who had ever reflected that words forced out of a person by horrible were not necessarily words of and truth yet this peasant girl put her finger upon that flaw with an instinct i had always supposed that torture brought out the truth everybody supposed it and when came out with those simple common sense words they seemed to flood the place with light it was like a lightning at midnight which suddenly a fair valley sprinkled over with silver streams and gleaming villages and where was only an impenetrable world of darkness before stole a look at me and his face was full of surprise and there was the n x mark twain like to be seen in other faces there consider they were old and deeply yet here was a village maid able to teach them something which they had not known before i heard one of them verily it is a wonderful creature she has laid her hand upon an accepted truth that is as old as the world and it has to dust and rubbish under her touch now whence got she that insight the judges laid their heads together and began to talk low it was plain from chance words which one caught now and then that and were upon the application of the torture and that most of the others were finally broke out with a good deal of in his voice and ordered back to her that was a happy for me i was not expecting that the bishop would yield when came home that night he said he had found out why the torture was not applied there were two reasons one was a fear that might die under the torture which would not suit the english at all the other was that the torture would effect nothing if was going to take back everything she said under its pains and as to putting	34
her mark to a confession it was believed that not even the rack could ever make her do that so all laughed again and kept it up for three days saying the sow has six times and made six of it recollections op op arc and the palace walls got a new a carrying a discarded rack home on its shoulder and weeping in its wake many rewards were offered for the capture of these painters but nobody applied even the english guard feigned blindness and would not see the artists at work the bishop s anger was very high now he could not reconcile himself to the idea of giving up the torture it was the idea he had invented yet and he would not cast it by so he called in some of his on the twelfth and urged the torture again but it was a failure with some s speech had wrought an effect others feared she might die under torture others did not believe that any of suffering could make her put her mark to a lying confession there were fourteen men present including the bishop eleven of them dead against the torture and stood their in spite of s abuse two with the bishop and insisted upon the torture these two were and the orator the man whom had to read his book thomas de the renowned and master of eloquence age has taught me charity of speech but it fails me when i think of those three names chapter xvii another ten days wait the great i of that treasury of all valuable knowledge and all wisdom the university of paris were still weighing and considering and discussing the twelve lies i had but little to do these ten days so i spent them mainly in walks about the town with but there was no pleasure in them our spirits being so with cares and the outlook for growing so steadily darker and darker all the time and then we naturally contrasted our circumstances with hers this freedom and sunshine with her dark ness and chains our with her lonely estate our of one sort and another with her in all she was used to liberty but now she had none she was an out of door creature by nature and habit but now she was shut up day and night in a steel cage like an animal she was used to the light but now she was always in a gloom where all objects about her were dim and she was used to the thousand various sounds which are the cheer and music of a busy life but now she heard only the monotonous of the pacing his watch she had been fond of talking with her mates but now there was no one to talk to she had had an easy laugh but it was gone now ti recollections of of arc she had been bom for and and busy work and all manner of joyous but here were only and leaden hours and weary and brooding stillness and thoughts that travel day and night and night and day and round in the same circle and wear the brain and break the heart with weariness it was death in life yes death in life that is what it must have been and there was another hard thing about it all a young girl in trouble needs the soothing solace and support and sympathy of persons of her own sex and the delicate offices and gentle which only these can furnish yet in all these months of gloomy in her never saw the face of a girl or a woman think how her heart would have leaped to see such a face consider if you would realize how great of arc was remember that it was out of such a place and such that she came week after week and month after month and confronted the master of single handed and baffled their schemes defeated their plans detected and avoided their traps and broke their lines their and on the field after every engagement steadfast always true to her faith and her torture the stake and answering threats of eternal death and the pains of hell with a simple let come what may here i take my stand and will abide yes if you would realize how great was the soul how the wisdom and how the q mark twain intellect of of arc you must study her there where she fought out that long fight all alone and not merely against the brains and deepest learning of but against the the meanest and the hardest hearts to be found in any land pagan or christian she was great in battle we all know that great in foresight great in loyalty and patriotism great in persuading discontented chiefs and conflicting interests and passions great in the ability to discover merit and genius wherever it lay hidden great in picturesque and eloquent speech great in the gift of firing the hearts of hopeless men with noble the gift of turning into heroes slaves and into that march to death with songs upon their lips but all these are they keep hand and heart and brain up to their work there is the joy of achievement the inspiration of stir and movement the applause which success the soul is overflowing with life and energy the faculties are at white heat weariness despondency these do not exist yes of arc was great always great everywhere but she was greatest in the trials there she rose above the and of our nature and accomplished and and hopeless conditions all that her splendid of moral and intellectual forces could have accomplished if they had been by the mighty helps of hope and cheer and light the presence of friendly faces and a fair and equal fight with the great world looking on	34
and wondering chapter xviii toward the end of the ten day interval the university of paris rendered its decision concerning the twelve articles by this finding was guilty upon all the counts she must her errors and make satisfaction or be abandoned to the arm for the university s mind was probably already made up before the articles were laid before it yet it took it from the fifth to the to produce its verdict i think the delay may have been caused by temporary difficulties concerning two points as to who the were who were represented in s voices as to whether her saints spoke french only you understand the university decided emphatically that it was who spoke in those voices it would need to prove that and it did it found out who the were and named them in the verdict satan and this has always seemed a doubtful thing to me and not entitled to much credit i think so for this reason if the university had actually known it was those three it would for very s sake have told how it knew it and not stopped with the mere assertion since it had made explain how she knew they were not does not that seem mark twain reasonable to my mind the university s position was weak and i will tell you why it had claimed that s angels were devils in disguise and we au know that devils do disguise themselves as angels up to that point the university s position was strong but you see yourself that it eats its own argument when it turns around and that it can tell who such are while denying the like ability to a person with a good a head on her shoulders as the best one the university could produce the doctors of the university had to see those creatures in order to know and if was deceived it is argument that they in their turn could also be deceived for their insight and judgment were surely not clearer than hers as to the other point which i have thought may have proved a difficulty and cost the university delay i will touch but a moment upon that and pass on the university decided that it was for to say that her saints spoke french and not english and were on the french side in political sympathies i think that the thing which troubled the doctors of was this they had decided that the three voices were satan and two other devils but they had also decided that these voices were not on the french side thereby asserting that they were on the english side and if on the english side then they must be angels and not devils otherwise the situation was embarrassing you see the university being the wisest and deepest and most body in the world it would recollections op of arc like to be logical if it could for the sake of its reputation therefore it would study and study days and days trying to find some good common sense reason for proving the voices devils in article no i and proving them angels in article no lo however they had to give it up they found no way out and so to this day the university s verdict remains just so devils in no i angels in no lo and no way to reconcile the the brought the verdict to and with it a letter for which was full of praise the university him on his zeal in hunting down this woman whose had the of the whole west and as it as good as promised him a crown of glory in heaven only that a crown in heaven a note and no always something away oflf yonder not a word about the of which was the thing was destroying his for a crown in heaven it must have sounded like a sarcasm to him after all his hard work what should he do va heaven he did not know anybody there on the nineteenth of may a court of fifty judges sat in the palace to discuss s fate a few wanted her delivered over to the arm at once for punishment but the rest insisted that she be once more first so the same court met ia the castle on the and was brought to the bar a of made a speech to mark twain in which he her to save her life and her soul by her errors and to the church he finished with a stem threat if she remained obstinate the of her soul was certain the destruction of her body probable but was immovable she said if i were under sentence and saw the fire before me and the ready to light it more if i were in the fire itself i would say none but the things which i have said in these trials and i would abide by them till i died a deep silence followed now which endured some moments it lay upon me like a weight i knew it for an omen then grave and solemn turned to have you anything to say the priest bowed low and said nothing my lord prisoner at the bar have you anything further to say nothing then the debate is closed to morrow sentence will be remove the prisoner she seemed to go from the place erect and noble but i do not know my sight was dim with tears to morrow twenty fourth of may exactly a year since i saw her go across the plain at the head of her troops her silver shining her silvery cape fluttering in the wind her white flowing her sword held aloft saw her charge the camp three times and carry recollections of of arc it saw her wheel to the right and spur for the duke s saw her	34
fling herself against it in the last assault she was ever to make and now that fatal day was come again and see what it was bringing v chapter xix had been guilty of and all the other terrible crimes set forth in the twelve articles and her life was in s hands at last he could send her to the stake at once his work was finished now you think he was satisfied not at all what would his be worth if the people should get the idea into their heads that this of interested priests under the english lash had condemned and burned of arc of france that would be to make of her a holy martyr then her spirit would rise from her body s ashes a and sweep the english into the sea and along with it no the victory was not complete yet s guilt must be established by evidence which satisfy the people where was that evidence to be found there was only one person in the world who could furnish it of arc herself she must condemn herself and in public at least she must seem to do it but how was this to be managed weeks had been spent already in to get her to surrender time wholly wasted what was to persuade her now torture had been threatened the fire had recollections op op arc been threatened what was left illness deadly fatigue and the sight of the fire the presence of the fire that was left now that was a shrewd thought she was but a girl after all and under illness and exhaustion subject to a girl s weaknesses yes it was thought she had said herself that under the bitter pains of the rack they would be able to a false confession from her it was a hint worth remembering and it was remembered she had furnished another hint at the same time that as soon as the pains were gone she would the confession that hint was also remembered she had herself taught them what to do you see first they must wear out her strength then frighten her with the fire second while the fright was on her she must be made to sign a paper but she would demand a reading of the paper they could not venture to refuse this with the public there to hear suppose that during the reading her courage should return she would refuse to sign then very well even that difficulty could be got over they could read a short paper of no importance then slip a long and deadly one into its place and trick her into that yet there was still one other if they made her seem to that would free her from the death penalty they could keep her in a prison of the church but they could not kill her that would not answer for only her death would content mark twain the english alive she was a terror in a or out of it she had escaped from two already but even that difficulty could be managed would make promises to her in return she would promise to leave off the male dress he would his promises and that would so her that she would not be able to keep hers her lapse would condemn her to the stake and the stake would be ready these were the several moves there was nothing to do but to make them each in its order and the game was won one might almost name the day that the betrayed girl the most innocent creature in and the noblest would go to her pitiful death and the time was favorable cruelly favorable s spirit had as yet no decay it was as sublime and as ever but her body s forces had been steadily wasting away in those last ten days and a strong mind needs a healthy body for its support the world knows now that s plan was as i have it to you but the world did not know it at that time there are sufficient indications that and all the other english chiefs except the highest one the cardinal of were not let into the secret also that only and on the french side knew the scheme sometimes i have doubted if even and knew the whole of it at first however if any did it was these two recollections of of arc it is usual to let the condemned pass their last night of life in peace but this grace was denied to poor if one may credit the of the time was into her presence and in the character of priest friend and secret of france and of england he spent some hours in her to do the only right and righteous thing submit to the church as a good christian should and that then she would straightway get out of the of the dreaded english and be transferred to the church s prison where she would be used and have women about her for he knew where to touch her he knew how odious to her was the presence of her rough and profane english guards he knew that her voices had vaguely promised something which she interpreted to be escape rescue release of some sort and the chance to burst upon france once more and complete the great work which she had been of heaven to do also there was that other thing if her failing body could be further weakened by loss of rest and sleep now her tired mind would be dazed and drowsy on the morrow and in ill condition to stand out against threats and the sight of the stake and also be to traps and which it would be swift to detect when in its normal estate i do not need to tell you	34
that there was no rest for me that night nor for we went to the main gate of the city before nightfall with a hope in our minds based upon that vague prophecy of s voices which seemed to promise a rescue by mark twain force at the last moment the immense news had flown swiftly far and wide that at last of arc was condemned and would be and burned alive on the morrow and so crowds of people were flowing in at the gate and other crowds were being refused admission by the these being people who brought doubtful passes or none at all we these crowds eagerly but there was nothing about them to indicate that they were our old in disguise and certainly there were no familiar faces among them and so when the gate was closed at last we turned away grieved and more disappointed than we cared to admit either in speech or thought the streets were tides of excited men it was difficult to make one s way toward midnight our tramp brought us to the neighborhood of the beautiful church of st and there all was bustle and work the square was a wilderness of and people and through a guarded passage dividing the pack were and and disappearing with them through the gate of the churchyard we asked what was going forward the answer was and the stake don t you know that the french witch is to be burned in the morning then we went away we had no heart for that place at dawn we were at the city gate again this time with a hope which our wearied bodies and minds into a large probability we had heard a report that the of with all recollections of of arc his was coming to witness the burning our desire by our imagination turned those nine hundred into s old and their into la hire or the or d and we watched them file in the multitude respectfully dividing and while they passed with our hearts in our throats and our eyes swimming with tears of joy and pride and exultation and we tried to catch glimpses of the faces under the and were prepared to give signal to any recognized face that we were s men and ready and eager to kill and be killed in the good cause how foolish we were but we were you know and youth all things all things n chapter xx in the morning i was at my post it was on a platform raised the height of a man in the churchyard under the of st on this same platform was a crowd of priests and important citizens and several lawyers abreast it with a small space between was another and larger platform handsomely against sun and rain and richly also it was furnished with comfortable chairs and with two which were more than the others and raised above the general level one of these two was occupied by a prince of the royal blood of england his eminence the cardinal of the other by bishop of in the rest of the chairs sat three the vice eight and the sixty two and lawyers who had sat as s judges in her late trials twenty steps in front of the was another a table of stone built up in retreating courses thus forming steps out of this rose that thing the stake about the stake bundles of and were piled on the at the base of the stood three crimson figures the and his at their feet lay what had been a goodly heap of recollections of of arc but was now a nest of ruddy coals a foot or two from this was a supply of wood and into a pile shoulder high and containing as much as six loads think of that we seem so delicately made so so yet it is easier to reduce a granite statue to ashes than it is to do that with a man s body the sight of the stake sent physical pains down the nerves of my body and yet turn as i would my eyes would keep coming back to it such fascination has the and the terrible for us the space occupied by the and the stake was kept open by a wall of english standing elbow to elbow erect and figures fine and in their polished steel while from behind them on every hand stretched far away a level plain of heads and there was no window and no within our view distant but was black with patches and masses of people but there was no noise no stir it was as if the world was dead the of this silence and solemnity was deepened by a leaden twilight for the sky was hidden by a pall of low hanging storm clouds and above the remote horizon faint of heat lightning played and now and then one caught the dull and of distant thunder at last the stillness was broken beyond the square rose an indistinct but familiar mark twain crisp phrases of command next i saw plain of heads dividing and the steady swing of a marching host was between my heart leaped for a moment was it la hire and his no that was not their gait no it was the prisoner and her escort it was of arc under guard that was coming my spirits sank as low as they had been before weak as she was they made her walk they would increase her weakness all they could the distance was not great it was but a few hundred yards but short as it was it was a heavy tax upon one who had been lying chained in one spot for months and whose feet had lost their powers from yes and for a year had known only the cool	34
of a and now she was dragging herself through this summer heat this and void as she entered the gate drooping with exhaustion there was that creature at her side with his head bent to her ear we knew afterward that he had been with her again this morning in the prison her with his and her with false promises and that he was now still at the same work at the gate imploring her to yield everything that would be required of her and assuring her that if she would do this all would be well with her she would be rid of the dreaded english and find safety in the powerful shelter and protection of the church a miserable man a stony hearted man the moment was seated on the platform she closed her eyes and allowed her chin to fall and so i j recollections of of arc sat with her hands in her lap indifferent to everything caring for nothing but rest and she was so white again white as how the faces of that packed mass of humanity lighted up with interest and with what intensity all eyes gazed upon this fragile girl and how natural it was for these people realized that at last they were looking upon that person whom they had so long to see a person whose name and fame filled all europe and made all other names and all other insignificant by comparison of arc the wonder of the time and destined to be the wonder of all times and i could read as by print in their countenances the words that were drifting through their minds can it be true is it that it is this little creature this girl this child with the good face the sweet face the beautiful face the dear and face that has carried by storm charged at the head of victorious armies blown the might of england out of her path with a breath and fought a long campaign solitary and alone against the brains and learning of france and had won it if the fight had been fair evidently had grown afraid of because of his pretty apparent toward for another was in the chief place here which left my master and me nothing to do but sit idle and look on well i supposed that everything had been done which could be thought of to tire s body and mind but it was a mistake one more device had s mark twain been invented this was to preach a long sermon to her in that oppressive heat when the preacher began she cast up one distressed and disappointed look then dropped her head again this preacher was an he got his text from the twelve lies he emptied upon all the in detail that had been up in that mess of and called her all the brutal names that the twelve were with working himself into a of fury as he went on but his labors were wasted she seemed lost in dreams she made no sign she did not seem to hear at last he launched this france how hast thou been abused thou hast always been the home of christianity but now charles who calls himself thy and governor like the and that he is the words and deeds of a worthless and infamous woman raised her head and her eyes began to bum and flash the preacher turned toward her it is to you that i speak and i tell you that your king is and a ah he might abuse her to his heart s content she could endure that but to her dying moment she could never hear in patience a word against that that treacherous dog our king whose proper place was here at this moment sword in hand these and saving this most noble servant that ever king had in this world and he would have been there if he had not been what i have called him s loyal soul was outraged recollections of of arc and she turned upon the preacher and flung out a few words with a spirit which the crowd recognized as being in accordance with the of arc traditions by my faith sir i make bold to say and swear on pain of death that he is the most noble christian of all christians and the best lover of the faith and the church there was an explosion of applause from the crowd which the preacher for he had been aching long to hear an expression like this and now that it was come at last it had fallen to the wrong person he had done all the work the other had carried off all the spoil he stamped his foot and shouted to the make her shut up that made the crowd laugh a mob has small respect for a grown man who has to call on a to protect him from a sick girl had the preacher s cause more with one sentence than he had helped it with a hundred so he was much put out and had trouble to get a good start again but he needn t have there was no occasion it was mainly an mob it had but obeyed a law of our an irresistible to enjoy and a spirited and promptly delivered retort no matter who makes it the mob was with the preacher it had been for a moment but only that it would soon return it was there to see this girl burnt so that it got that satisfaction without too much delay it would be content presently the preacher formally summoned mark twain to submit to the church he made the demand with confidence for he had gotten the idea from and that she was worn to the bone exhausted and would not be able to put forth any more resistance	34
and indeed to look at her it seemed that they must be right nevertheless she made one more to hold her ground and said wearily as to that matter i have answered my judges before i have told them to report all that i have said and done to our holy father the pope to whom and to god first i appeal again out of her native wisdom she had brought those words of tremendous import but was ignorant of their value but they could have availed her nothing in any case now with the stake there and these thousands of enemies about her yet they made every there and the preacher changed the subject with all haste well might those for s appeal of her case to the pope stripped at once of over it and au that he and his judges had already done in the matter and all that they should do in it went on presently to after some further talk that she had acted by command of god in her deeds and then when an attempt was made to the king and friends of hers and his she stopped that she said i charge my deeds and words upon no one neither upon my king nor any other if there is any fault in them i am responsible and no other recollections of op arc she was asked if she would not those of her words and deeds which had been pronounced evil by her judges her answer made confusion and damage again i submit them to god and the pope the pope once more it was very embarrassing here was a person who was asked to submit her case to the church and who frankly to submit it to the very head of it what more could any one require how was one to answer such a answer as that the worried judges put their heads together and whispered and planned and discussed then they brought forth this sufficiently conclusion but it was the best they could do in so dose a place they said the pope was so far away and it was not necessary to go to him anyway because these present judges had sufficient power and authority to deal with the present case and were in effect the church to that extent at another time they could have smiled at this conceit but not now they were not comfortable enough now the mob was getting impatient it was beginning to put on a threatening aspect it was tired of standing tired of the heat and the was coming nearer the lightning was flashing brighter it was necessary to hurry this matter to a close showed a written form which had been prepared and made all ready beforehand and asked her to what is mark twain she did not know the word it was explained to her by she tried to understand but she was breaking under exhaustion and she could not gather the meaning it was all a and confusion of strange words in her despair she sent out this cry i appeal to the church universal whether i ought to or no exclaimed you shall instantly or instantly be burnt she glanced up at those awful words and for the first time she saw the stake and the mass of red coals and than ever now under the constantly deepening storm gloom she gasped and staggered up out of her seat muttering and and gazed upon the people and the scene about her like one who is dazed or thinks he dreams and does not know where he is the priests crowded about her imploring her to sign the paper there were many voices and urging her at once there was great turmoil and shouting and excitement among the and everywhere sign sign from the priests sign sign and be saved and was urging at her ear do as i told you do not destroy said to these people ah you do not do well to me the judges joined their voices to the others yes even the iron in their hearts melted and they said recollections of of arc o we pity you so take back what you have said or we must deliver you up to punishment and now there was another voice it was from the other platform solemnly above the din s reading the sentence of death s strength was all spent she stood looking about her in a bewildered way a moment then slowly she sank to her knees and bowed her head and said i submit they gave her no time to they knew the peril of that the moment the words were out of her mouth was reading to her the and she was repeating the words after him mechanically unconsciously and smiling for her wandering mind was far away in some happier world then this short paper of six lines was slipped aside and a long one of many pages was into its place and she noting nothing put her mark to it saying in pathetic apology that she did not know how to write but a secretary of the king of england was there to take care of that defect he guided her hand with his own and wrote her name the great crime was accomplished she had signed what she did not know but the others knew she had signed a paper herself a a dealer with devils a liar a of god and his angels a lover of blood a of cruel wicked of satan mark twain and this signature of hers bound her to resume the dress of a woman there were other promises but that one would answer without the that one could be made to destroy her pressed forward and praised her for having done such a good day s work but	34
she was still dreamy she hardly heard then pronounced the words which dissolved the and restored her to her beloved church with all the dear privileges of worship ah she heard that you could see it in the deep gratitude that rose in her face and it with joy but how transient was that happiness for without a tremor of pity in his voice added these crushing words and that she may repent of her crimes and repeat them no more she is to perpetual imprisonment with the bread of affliction and the water of anguish perpetual imprisonment i she had never dreamed of that such a thing had never been hinted to her by or by any other had distinctly said and promised that all would be well with her and the very last words spoken to her by on that very platform when he was urging her to was a straight promise that if she would do it she should go free from she stood stunned and speechless a moment then she remembered with such as the thought furnish that by another clear promise a recollections of of arc promise made by himself she would at least be the church s captive and have women about her in place of a brutal foreign so she turned to the body of priests and said with a sad resignation now you men of the ch take me to your prison and leave me no longer in the hands of the english and she gathered up her chains and prepared to move but alas now came these shameful words from and with them a mocking laugh take her to the prison whence she came poor abused girl she stood dumb smitten it was pitiful to see she had been lied to betrayed she saw it all now the of a drum broke upon the stillness and for just one moment she thought of the glorious promised by her voices i read it in the e that lit her face then she saw what it was her prison escort and that light faded never to revive again and now her head began a piteous rocking motion slowly this way and that as is the way when one is suffering pain or when one s heart is broken then she went from us with her face in her hands and sobbing bitterly chapter xxi there is no certainty that any one in all was in the secret of the deep game which was except the cardinal of then you can imagine the astonishment and of that vast mob gathered there and those crowds of assembled on the two when they saw of arc moving away and whole out of their grip at last after all this tedious waiting all this nobody was able to stir or speak for a while so was the universal astonishment so the fact that the stake was actually standing there and its prey gone then suddenly everybody broke into a fury of rage and charges of treachery began to fly freely yes and even stones a stone came near killing the cardinal of it just missed his head but the man who threw it was not to blame for he was excited and a person who is excited never can throw straight the tumult was very great indeed for a while in the midst of it a of the cardinal even forgot the so far as to the august bishop of himself shaking his fist in his face and shouting recollections of of arc by god you are a traitor you ue responded the bishop he a traitor oh far from it he certainly was the last frenchman that any had a right to bring that charge against the earl of lost his temper too he was a soldier but when it came to the when it came to delicate and and he couldn t see any further through a than another so he burst out in his frank warrior fashion and swore that the king of england was being used and that of arc was going to be allowed to cheat the stake but they whispered comfort into his ear give yourself no uneasiness my lord we shall soon have her again perhaps the like tidings their way all around for good news travels fast as well as bad at any rate the presently down and the huge apart and disappeared and thus we reached the noon of that fearful thursday we two youths were happy happier than any words can tell for we were not in the secret any more than the rest s life was saved we knew that and that was enough france would hear of this day s infamous work and then why then her gallant sons would flock to her standard by thousands and thousands multitudes upon multitudes and their wrath would be like the wrath of the ocean when the storm winds sweep it and they would themselves against this doomed city and mark twain it like the tides of that ocean and of arc would march again in six days seven days one short week noble france grateful france indignant france would be thundering at these gates let us the hours let us count the minutes let us count the seconds o happy day o day of ecstasy how our hearts sang in our for we were then yes we were very yoimg do you think the exhausted prisoner was allowed to rest and sleep after she had spent the small remnant of her strength in dragging her tired body back to the no there was no rest for her with those on her track and some of his people followed her to her straightway they found her dazed and dull her mental and physical forces in a state of they told her	34
she had that she had made certain promises among them to resume the apparel of her sex and that if she the church would cast her out for good and all she heard the words but they had no meaning to her she was like a person who has taken a and is dying for sleep dying for rest from dying to be let alone and who mechanically does everything the asks taking but dull note of the things done and but them in the memory and so put on the gown which and his people had brought and would come to herself by and by and have at first but a dim idea as to when and how the change had come about recollections of op arc f went away happy and content had resumed woman s dress without protest also she had been formally warned again he had witnesses to these facts how could matters be better but suppose she not why then she must be forced to do it did hint to the english guards that if they chose to make their prisoner s and than ever no notice would be taken of it perhaps so since the guards did begin that policy at once and no official notice was taken of it yes from that moment s life in that was made almost do not ask me to upon it i will not do it n chapter xxii friday and saturday were happy days for l and me our minds were full of splendid dream of aroused shaking her mane on the march at the gates in ashes and free our imagination was on fire we were with pride and joy for we were very young as i have said we knew nothing about what had been happening in the the we supposed that as had and been taken back into the bosom of the church she was being gently used now and her made as pleasant and comfortable for her as the circumstances would allow so in high contentment we planned out our share in the great rescue and fought our part of the fight over and over again during those two happy days as happy days as ever i have known morning came i was awake enjoying the lazy weather and thinking thinking of the rescue what else i had no other thought now i was absorbed in that drunk with the happiness of it i heard a voice shouting far down the street and soon it came nearer and i caught the words of arc has the witch s time has comer s recollections of of arc it stopped my heart it turned my blood to ice that was more than sixty years ago but that triumphant note rings as clear in my memory to day as it rang in my ear that long vanished summer morning we are so strangely made the memories that could make us happy pass away it is the memories that break our hearts that abide soon other voices took up that cry scores hundreds of voices all the seemed filled with the brutal joy of it and there were other the clatter of rushing feet merry bursts of coarse laughter the rolling of the boom and crash of distant bands the sacred day with the music of victory and about the middle of the afternoon came a for and me to go to s a summons from but by that time distrust had already taken possession of the english and their again and all was in a angry and threatening mood we could see plenty of evidences of this from our own windows black looks tumultuous tides of furious men by along the street and we learned that up at the castle things were going very badly indeed that there was a great mob gathered there who considered the a lie and a trick and among them many english soldiers moreover these people had gone beyond words they had laid hands upon a of who were trying to enter the castle and it had been difficult work to rescue them and save their lives mark twain and so refused to go he said he would not go a step without a from so next morning sent an escort of soldiers and then we went matters had not grown meantime but worse the soldiers protected us from bodily damage but as we passed through the great mob at the castle we were assailed with and shameful i bore it well enough though and said to myself with secret satisfaction in three or four short days my lads you will be your tongues in a different sort from this and i shall be there to hear to my mind these were as good as dead men how many of them would still be alive after the rescue that was coming not more than enough to amuse the a short half hour certainly it turned out that the report was true had she was sitting there in her chains clothed again in her male attire she accused nobody that was her way it was not in her character to hold a servant to account for what his master had made him do and her mind had cleared now and she knew that the advantage which had been taken of her the previous morning had its origin not in the subordinate but in the master here is what had happened while slept in the early morning of one of the guards stole her female apparel and put her male attire in its place when she woke she asked for the other dress but the guards refused to give it back she protested and said she was forbidden to wear the male recollections of of arc dress but they continued to refuse she had to have clothing for	34
modesty s sake moreover she saw that she could not save her life if she must fight for it against like this so she put on the forbidden garments knowing what the end would be she was weary of the struggle poor thing we had followed in the wake of the vice and the others six or eight and when i saw sitting there forlorn and still in chains when i was expecting to find her situation so different i did not know what to make of it the shock was very great i had doubted the perhaps possibly i had believed in it but had not realized it s victory was complete he had had a harassed and irritated and disgusted look for a long time but that was all gone now and contentment and serenity had taken its place his purple face was full of tranquil and happiness he went trailing his robes and stood in front of with his legs apart and remained so more than a minute over her and enjoying the sight of this poor ruined creature who had won so lofty a place for him in the service of the meek and of the world lord of the universe in case england kept her promise to him who kept no promises himself presently the judges began to question one of them named who was a man with more insight than prudence remarked upon s change of clothing and said there is something suspicious about this how mark twain could it have come about without on the part of others perhaps even something worse thousand devils screamed in a fury will you shut mouth traitor shouted the soldiers on guard and made a rush for with their it was with the greatest difficulty that he was saved from being nm through the body he made no more attempts to help the inquiry poor man the other judges proceeded with the why have you resumed this male habit i did not quite catch her answer for just then a soldier s slipped from his fingers and fell on the stone floor with a crash but i thought i to say that she had resumed it of her own motion but you have promised and sworn that you would not go back to it i was full of anxiety to hear her answer to that question and when it came it was just what i was expecting she said quite quietly i have never intended and never understood myself to swear i would not resume it there i had been sure all along that she did not know what she was doing and saying on the platform and this answer of hers was proof that i had not been mistaken then she went on to add this but i had a right to resume it because the promises made to me have not been kept promises that i should be allowed to go to mass and receive recollections of f arc the communion and that i should be freed from the bondage of these chains but they are still upon me as you see nevertheless you have and have especially promised to return no more to the dress of a man then held out her hands sorrowfully toward these men and said i would rather die than continue so but if they may be taken off and if i may hear mass and be removed to a prison and have a woman about me i will be good and will do what shall seem good to you that i do at that honor the compact which he and his had made with her fulfil its conditions what need of that conditions had been a good thing to temporarily and for advantage but they had served their turn let something of a sort and of more consequence be considered the of the male dress was sufficient for all practical purposes but perhaps could be led to add something to that fatal crime so asked her if her voices had spoken to her since thursday and he her of her yes she answered and then it came out that the voices had talked with her about the told her about it i suppose she the heavenly origin of her mission and did it with the mien of one who was not conscious that she had ever it so i was convinced once more that she bad had no mark twain notion of what she was doing that thursday morning on the platform finally she said my voices told me i did very wrong to confess that what i had done was not well then she sighed and said with simplicity but it was the fear of the fire that made me do so that is fear of the fire had made her sign a paper whose contents she had not understood then but understood now by revelation of her voices and by testimony of her she was sane now and not exhausted her courage had come back and with it her loyalty to the truth she was bravely and serenely speaking it again knowing that it would deliver her body up to that very fire which had such terrors for her that answer of hers was quite long quite frank wholly free from or it made me shudder i knew she was sentence of death upon herself so did poor and he wrote in the margin abreast of it fatal answer yes all present knew that it was indeed a fatal answer then there fell a silence such as falls in a sick room when the by the dying draw a deep breath and say softly one to another all is over here likewise all was over but after some wishing to this matter and make it final put this question do you still believe that voices are st	34
and st yes and that they come from god recollections of of arc yet you denied them on the then she made direct and clear that she had never had any intention to deny them and that if i noted the if if she had made some and on the it was from fear of the fire and was a of the truth there it is again you see she certainly never knew what it was she had done on the until she was told of it afterward by these people and by her voices and now she closed this most painful scene with these words and there was a weary note in them that was pathetic i would rather do my penance all at once let me die i cannot endure any longer the spirit bom for sunshine and liberty so longed for release that it would take it in any form even that several among the company of judges went from the place troubled and sorrowful the others in another mood in the court of the castle we found the earl of and fifty english waiting im i for news as soon as saw them he shouted laughing think of a man destroying a poor girl and then having the heart to laugh at it make yourselves comfortable it s all over with her chapter the young can sink into of despondency and it was so with and me now but the hopes of the young are quick to rise again and it was so with ours we called back that vague promise of the voices and said the one to the other that the glorious release was to happen at the last moment that other time was not the last moment but this is it will happen now the king will come la hire will come and with them our and behind them all france and so we were full of heart again and could already hear in fancy that stirring music the dash of steel and the war cries and the uproar of the and in fancy see our prisoner free her chains gone her sword in her hand but this dream was to pass also and come to nothing late at night when came in he said i am come from the and i have a message for you from that poor child a message to me if he had been noticing i think he would have discovered me discovered that my indifference concerning the prisoner was a for i was caught off my guard and was so moved and so exalted to be so honored by her recollections of of arc that i must have shown my feeling in my face and a message for me reverence yes it is something she wishes done she said she had noticed the young man who helps me and that he had a good face and did i think he would do a kindness for her i said i knew you would and asked her what it was and she said a letter would you write a letter to her mother and i said you would but i said i would do it myself and gladly but she said no that my labors were heavy and she thought the young man would not mind the doing of this service for one not able to do it for herself she not knowing how to write then i would have sent for you and at that the sadness vanished out of her face why it was as if she was going to see a friend poor thing but i was not permitted i did my best but the orders remain as strict as ever the doors are closed against all but officials as before none but may speak to her so i went back and told her and she sighed and was sad again now this is what she you to write to her mother it is partly a strange message and to me means nothing but she said her mother would understand you will convey her love to her family and her village friends and say there will be no rescue for that this night and it is the third time in the and is final she has seen the vision of the tree strange yes it is strange but that is what she said mark twain and said her parents would understand and for a little time she was lost in dreams and and her lips moved and i caught in her muttering these lines which she said over two or three times and they seemed to bring peace and contentment to her i set them down thinking they might have some connection with her letter and be but it was not so they were a mere memory floating idly in a tired mind and they have no meaning at least no i took the piece of paper and f what i knew i should find and when in exile ring we shall fainting for glimpse of thee oh rise upon our sight there was no hope any more i knew it now i knew that s letter was a message to and me as well as to her family and that its object was to banish vain hopes from our minds and tell us from her own mouth of the blow that was going to fall upon us so that we being her soldiers would know it for a command to bear it as became us and her and so submit to the will of god and in thus obeying find of our grief it was like her for she was always thinking of others not of herself yes her heart was sore for us she find time to of us the of her servants and try to soften our pain the burden of	34
our troubles she that was drinking of the bitter waters she that was walking in the valley of the shadow of death recollections of of arc i wrote the letter you will know what it cost me my telling you i wrote it with the same wooden which had put upon the first words ever dictated by of arc that high summons to the english to france two years past when she was a of seventeen it had now set down the last ones which she was ever to dictate then i broke it for the pen that had served of arc could not serve any that would come after her in this earth without the next day may th summoned his and forty two responded it is charitable to believe that the other twenty were ashamed to come the forty two her a and condemned her to be delivered over to the arm thanked them then he sent orders that be conveyed the next morning to the known as the old market and that she be then delivered to the civil judge and by the civil judge to the that meant that she would be burnt all the afternoon and evening of tuesday the th the news was flying and the people of the side to to see the tragedy all at least who could prove their english sympathies and count upon admission the press grew thicker and thicker in the streets the excitement grew higher and higher and now a thing was noticeable again which had been noticeable more than once before that there was pity for in the hearts of many of these people whenever she had been in great danger it had manifested itself and mark twain now it was apparent again manifest in a pathetic dumb sorrow which was visible in many faces early the next morning wednesday martin and another were sent to to prepare her for death and and i went with them a hard service for me we through the dim winding this way and that and piercing ever deeper and deeper into that vast heart of stone and at last we stood before but she did not know it she sat with her hands in her lap and her head bowed thinking and her face was very sad one might not know what she was thinking of of her home and the peaceful pastures and the friends she was no more to see of her wrongs and her forsaken estate and the which had been put upon her or was it of death the death which she had longed for and which was now so close or was it of the kind of death she suffer i hoped not for she feared only one kind and that one had for her terrors i believed she so feared that one that with her strong will she would shut the thought of it wholly out of her mind and hope and believe that god would take pity on her and grant her an easier one and so it might chance that the awful news which we were bringing might come as a surprise to her at last we stood silent awhile but she was still of us still deep in her sad and far away then martin said softly she looked up then with a little start and a wan smile and said c recollections of of arc speak have you a message for me yes my poor child try to bear it do you think you can bear it yes very softly and her head drooped again i am come to prepare you for death a faint shiver trembled through her wasted body there was a pause in the stillness we could hear our then she said still in that low voice when will it be the muffled notes of a bell floated to our ears out of the distance now the time is at hand that slight shiver passed again it is so soon ah it is so soon there was a long silence the distant of the bell through it and we stood motionless and listening but it was broken at last what death is it by fire oh i knew it i knew it she sprang wildly to her feet and her hands in her hair and began to and sob oh so and mourn and grieve and lament and turn to first one and then another of us and search our faces as hoping she might find help and friendliness there poor thing she that had never denied these to any creature even her enemy on the battle field oh cruel cruel to treat me so and must my body that has never been be consumed today and turned to ashes ah sooner would i that my head were cut off seven times than suffer this ci mark twain death i had the promise of the church s prison when i submitted and if i had but been there and not left here in the hands of my enemies this miserable fate had not befallen me oh i appeal to god the great judge against the injustice which has been done me there was none there that could endure it they away with the tears running down their faces in a moment i was on my knees at her feet at once she thought only of my danger and bent and whispered in my ear up do not peril yourself good heart there god bless you always and i felt the of her hand mine was the last hand she touched with hers in life none saw it history does not know of it or tell of it yet it is true just as i have told it the next moment she saw coming and she went and stood before him and reproached him saying bishop	34
it is by you that i die he was not not touched but said smoothly ah be patient you die because you have not kept your promise but have to your sins alas she said if you had put me in the church s prison and given me right and proper as you promised this would not have happened and for this i summon you to answer before god then and looked less placidly content than before and he turned him about and went away recollections op op arc stood awhile musing she grew calmer but occasionally she wiped her eyes and now and then sobs shook her body but their violence was now and the intervals between them were growing longer finally she looked up and saw who had come in with the bishop and she said to him master peter where shall i be this night have you not good hope in god yes and by his grace i shall be in paradise now martin heard her in confession then she begged for the but how grant the communion to one who had been publicly cut off from the church and was now no more entitled to its privileges than an pagan the brother could not do this but he sent to to inquire what he must do all laws human and divine were alike to that man he respected none of them he sent back orders to grant whatever she wished her last speech to him had reached his fears perhaps it could not reach his heart for he had none the was brought now to that poor soul that had for it with such longing all these desolate months it was a solemn moment while we had been in the of the prison the public courts of the castle had been ing up with crowds of the sort of men and women who had learned what was going on in s cell and had come with softened hearts to do they knew not what to hear they knew not what we knew nothing of this for they were out n mark twain of our view and there were other great crowds of the like caste gathered in masses outside the castle gates and when the lights and the other of the passed by coming to in the prison all those multitudes down and began to pray for her and many wept and when the solemn ceremony of the communion began in s cell out of the distance a moving was borne moaning to our ears it was those invisible multitudes the for a departing soul the fear of the l ery death was gone from of arc now to come again no more except for one fleeting instant then it would pass and serenity and courage would take its place and abide till the end chapter xxiv at nine o clock the maid of of l went forth in the grace of her innocence and her youth to lay down her life for the country she loved with such devotion and for the king that had abandoned her she sat in the cart that is used only for in one respect she was treated worse than a for whereas she was on her way to be by the civil arm she already bore her judgment inscribed in advance upon a cap which she wore in the cart with her sat the martin and she looked fair and sweet and in her long white robe and when a of sunlight her as she emerged from the gloom of the prison and was yet for a moment still framed in the arch of the gate the multitudes of poor folk murmured a vision a vision and sank to their knees praying and many of the women weeping and the moving for the dying rose again and was taken up and borne along a majestic wave of sound which accompanied the doomed and blessing her all the sorrowful way to the place of death christ s mark twain have pity i saint margaret have pity pray for her all ye saints and blessed pray for her saints and angels for her from thy wrath good lord deliver her o lord god save her have mercy on her we thee good lord it is just and true what one of the histories has said the poor and the helpless had nothing but their prayers to give of arc but these we may believe were not there are few more pathetic events recorded in history than this weeping helpless praying crowd holding their lighted candles and kneeling on the pavement beneath the prison walls of the old fortress and it was so all the way thousands upon thousands upon their knees and stretching far down the distances thick sown with the faint yellow candle flames like a field with golden flowers but there were some that did not kneel these were the english soldiers they stood elbow to elbow on each side of s road and walled it in all the way and behind these living walls knelt the multitudes by and by a frantic man in priest s garb came wailing and and tore through the crowd and the barrier of soldiers and himself on his knees by s cart and put up his hands in crying out o forgive forgive it was and forgave him forgave him out of a heart that knew nothing but forgiveness nothing but recollections op op arc compassion nothing but pity for all that suffer let their be what it might and she had no word of reproach for this poor wretch who had wrought day and night with and and h to betray her to her death the soldiers would have killed him but the earl of saved his life what became of him is not known he hid himself from the world somewhere to endure	34
his remorse as he might in the square of the old market stood the two and the stake that had stood before in the churchyard of st the were i as before the one by and her judges the other by great the principal being and the english cardinal the square was packed with people the windows and roofs of the blocks of buildings surrounding it were black with them when the preparations had been finished all noise and movement gradually ceased and a waiting stillness followed which was solemn and impressive and now by order of an named preached a sermon wherein he explained that when a branch of the vine which is the church becomes and corrupt it must be cut away or it will corrupt and destroy the whole vine he made it appear that through her wickedness was a menace and a peril to the church s purity and and her death therefore necessary when he was come to the end of his discourse he turned toward her and paused a moment then he said mark twain the church can no longer protect you go in peace had been placed wholly apart and conspicuous to signify the church s of her and she sat there in her loneliness waiting in patience and resignation for the end addressed her now he had been advised to read the form of her to her and had brought it with him but he changed his mind fearing that she would proclaim the truth that she had never and so bring shame upon him and eternal he contented himself with her to keep in mind her and repent of them and think of her salvation then he pronounced her and cut oflf from the body of the church with a final word he delivered her over to the arm for judgment and sentence weeping knelt and began to pray for whom herself oh no for the king of her voice rose sweet and clear and penetrated all hearts with its passionate pathos she never thought of his to her she never thought of his desertion of her she never remembered that it was because he was an that she was here to die a miserable death she remembered only that he was her king that she was his loyal and loving subject and that his enemies had his cause with evil reports and false charges and he not by to defend himself and so in the very presence of death she forgot her own troubles to all in her hearing to be just to him to believe that he was good and noble and sincere and not in any way to recollections of op arc blame for any acts of hers neither them nor urging them but being wholly dear and free of all responsibility for them then closing she begged in humble and touching words that all here present would pray for her and would pardon her both her enemies and such as might look friendly upon her and fed pity for her in their hearts there was hardly one heart there that was not touched even the english even the judges showed it and there was many a up that trembled and many an eye that was with tears yes even the english cardinal s that man with a political heart of stone but a human heart of flesh the judge who should have delivered judgment and sentence was himself so disturbed that he forgot his duty and went to her death thus with an what had begun and had so continued to the end he only said to the guards take her and to the do your duty asked for a cross none was able to furnish one but an english soldier broke a stick in two and crossed the pieces and tied them together and this cross he gave her moved to it by the good heart that was in him and she kissed it and put it in her bosom then de la went to the church near by and brought her a consecrated one and this one also she kissed and pressed it to her bosom with rapture and then kissed it again and again covering it with tears and pouring out b r to god and the saints mark twain and so weeping and her cross to her lips she climbed up the cruel steps to the face of the stake with the at her side then she was helped up to the top of the pile of wood that was built around the lower third of the stake and stood upon it with her back against the stake and the world gazing up at her breathless the ascended to her side and wound chains about her slender body and so fastened her to the stake then he descended to finish his dreadful office and there she remained alone she that had had so many friends in the days when she was free and had been so loved and so dear all these things i saw dimly and with tears but i could bear no more i continued in my place but what i shall deliver to you now i got by others eyes and others mouths tragic sounds there were that pierced my ears and wounded my heart as i sat there but it is as i tell you the latest image recorded by my eyes in that hour was of arc with the grace of her comely youth still and that image untouched by time or decay has remained with me all my days now i will go on if any thought that now in that solemn hour when all repent and confess she would her and say her great deeds had been evil deeds and satan and his their source they no such thought was in her mind she	34
was not thinking of herself and her troubles but of others and of woes that might befall them and so turning her a o recollections op op arc eyes about her where rose the towers and of that fair she said oh must i die here and you be my tomb ah i have great fear that you will for my death a of smoke swept upward past her face and for one moment terror seized her and she cried out water give me holy water but the next moment her fears were gone and they came no more to torture her she heard the flames below her and immediately distress for a fellow creature who was in danger took possession of her it was the she had given him her cross and begged him to raise it toward her face and let her eyes rest in hope and consolation upon it till she was entered into the peace of god she made him go out from the danger of the fire then she was satisfied and said now keep it always in my sight until the end not even yet could that man without shame to let her die in peace but went toward her all black with crimes and sins as he was and cried out i am come to you for the last time to repent and seek the pardon of god i die through you she said and these were the last words she spoke to any upon earth then the smoke shot through with red flashes of flame rolled up in a thick volume and hid her from sight and from the heart of this darkness her voice rose strong and eloquent in prayer and mark twain when by moments the wind somewhat of the smoke aside there were veiled glimpses of an face and moving lips at last a swift tide of flame burst upward and none saw that face any more nor that form and the voice was still yes she was gone from us op arc what little words they are to tell of a rich world made empty and poor conclusion s brother died in during the great trial at this was according to the prophecy which made that day in the pastures the time that she said the rest of us would go to the great wars when her poor old father heard of the it broke his heart and he died the mother was granted a by the city of and upon this she lived out her days which were many twenty four years after her illustrious child s death she all the way to paris in the winter time and was present at the opening of the discussion in the cathedral of dame which was the first step in the paris was crowded with people from all about who came to get sight of the venerable dame and it was a touching spectacle when she moved through these wet eyed multitudes on her way to the grand honors awaiting her at the cathedral with her were and no longer the light hearted youths who marched with us from but war worn with hair beginning to show frost after the and i went back to but presently when the la as the king s chief mark twain adviser and began the completion of s great work we put on our harness and returned to the field and fought for the king all through the wars and was freed of the english it was what would have desired of us and dead or alive her desire was law for us all the of the personal staff were faithful to her memory and fought for the king to the end mainly we were well scattered but when paris fell we happened to be together it was a great day and a joyous but it was a sad one at the same time because was not there to march into the captured capital with us and i remained always together and i was by his side when death claimed him it was in the last great battle of the war in that battle fell also s sturdy old enemy he was years old and had spent his whole life in battle a fine old lion he was with his flowing white mane and his spirit yes and his energy as well for he fought as and vigorous a fight that day as the best man there la hire survived the thirteen years and always fighting of course for that was all he enjoyed in life i did not see him in all that time for we were far apart but one was always hearing of him the of and d on and d lived to see free and to testify with and d arc and and me at the but they are all at rest now these many years i alone am left of those who recollections of op arc fought at the side of of arc in the great wars she said i would live until these wars were forgotten a prophecy which failed if i should live a thousand years it would still fail for whatsoever had touch with of arc that thing is immortal members of s family married and they have left descendants their descendants are of tjie nobility but their family name and blood bring them honors which no other receive or may hope for you have seen how everybody along the way uncovered when those children came yesterday to pay their duty to me it was not because they are noble it is because they are of the brothers of of arc now as to the crowned the king at for reward he allowed her to be hunted to her death without making one effort to save her during the next twenty three years he remained indifferent to her memory indifferent to the fact that	34
she made to the king and for a good reason no doubt no one wanted to take it to heart all wanted to banish it away and forget it and all had succeeded and would go on to the end placid and comfortable all but me alone i must my awful secret without any to help me a heavy load a bitter burden and would cost me a daily heart break she was to die and so soon i had never dreamed of that how could i and she so strong and fresh and young and every by of arc day earning a new fight to a peaceful and honored old age for at that time i thought old age able i do not know why but i thought so all young people think it i believe they being ignorant and full of she had seen the tree that miserable night those ancient verses went floating back and forth through my brain and when in exile ring we shall fainting for glimpse of thee oh rise upon our sight but at dawn the and the drums burst through the dreamy hush of the morning and it was turn out all mount and ride for there was red work to be done we marched to without halting there we carried the bridge by assault and left a force to hold it the rest of the army marching away next morning toward where the lion the terror of the french was in command when we arrived at that place the english retired into the and we sat down in the abandoned town was not at the moment present in person for he had gone away to watch for and welcome and his re of five thousand men placed her and the till night then some news came of france this long time in disgrace with the king largely because of the evil of la and his party was a by of approaching with a large body of men to offer hia services to and very much she needed them now that was so close by had wanted to join us before when we first marched on but the foolish king slave of those paltry of his warned him to keep his distance and refused all reconciliation with him i go into these details because they are important important because they lead up to the exhibition of a new gift in s extraordinary mental make up it is a sufficiently strange thing to find that great quality in an ignorant country girl of seventeen and a half but she had it was for receiving cordially and so was la hire and the two young and other chiefs but the lieutenant general d and opposed it he said he had absolute orders from the king to deny and defy and that if they were he would leave the army this would have been a heavy disaster indeed but set herself the task of persuading him that the salvation of france took of all minor things even the commands of a ass and she accomplished it she persuaded him to the king in the interest of the nation and to be reconciled to count and welcome him that was and of the highest and sort whatever thing men call great look for it in of arc and there you will find it by of arc in the early morning june the re the approach of and with s force then the drums beat to arms and we set forth to meet the english leaving and his troops behind to watch the castle of and keep its garrison at home by and by we came in sight of the enemy had tried to convince that it would be wisest to retreat and not risk a battle with at this time but the new among the english of the thus securing them against capture be patient and wait wait for more from paris let her army with fruitless daily then at the right time fall upon her in mass and her he was a wise old experienced general was but that fierce would hear of no delay he was in a rage over the punishment which the maid had inflicted upon him at and since and he swore by god and saint george that he would have it out with her if he had to fight her all alone so yielded though he said they were now the loss of everything which the english had gained by so many years work and so many hard the enemy had taken up a strong position and were waiting in order of battle with their to the front and a before them night was coming on a messenger came from the english with a rude defiance and an offer of by of arc battle but s dignity was not ruffled her ing was not she said to the herald go back and say it is too late to meet to night but to morrow please god and our lady we will come to close quarters the night fell dark and rainy it was that sort of light steady rain which falls so softly and brings to one s spirit such serenity and peace about ten o clock d the of la hire of and two or three other came to our tent and sat down to discuss matters with some thought it was a pity that had declined battle some thought not then asked her why she had declined it she said there was more than one reason these english are ours they cannot get away from us wherefore there is no need to take risks as at other times the day was far spent it is good to have much time and the fair light of day when one s force is in a weakened state nine hundred of us yonder	34
keeping the bridge of under the de fifteen hundred with the of france keeping the bridge and watching the castle of du said i grieve for this but it cannot be helped and the case will be the same the morrow as to that was walking up and down then she by of arc laughed her affectionate laugh and stop before that old war tiger she put her hand above his head and touched one of his saying now tell me wise man which feather is it that i touch in that i cannot name of god you cannot tell me this small thing yet are bold to name a large one telling us what is in the stomach of the morrow that we shall not have those now it is my thought that they will be with us that made a stir all wanted to know why she thought that but la hire took the word and said let be if she thinks it that is enough it will happen then of said there were other reasons for declining battle according to the saying of your yes one was that we being weak and the day far gone the battle might not be decisive when it is fought it must be decisive and shall be god grant it and amen there were still other reasons one other yes she hesitated a moment then said this was not the day to morrow is the day it is so written they were going to her with eager but she put up her hand and prevented them then she said by is of it be the most noble and beneficent victory that god has to france at any time i pray you question me not as to whence or how i know this thing but be content that it is so there was pleasure in every face and conviction and high confidence a murmur of conversation broke out but was interrupted by a messenger from the who brought news namely that for an hour there had been stir and movement in the english camp of a sort unusual at such a time and with a resting army he said had been sent under cover of the rain and darkness to inquire into it they had just come back and reported that large bodies of men had been dimly made out who were stealthily away in the direction of the were very much surprised as any might tell from their faces it is a retreat said it has that look said d it certainly has observed the and la hire it was to be expected said louis de but one can divine the purpose of it yes responded has reflected his rash brain has cooled he thinks to take the bridge of and escape to the other side of the river he knows that this leaves his garrison of at die mercy of fortune to escape our if it can but there is no other course if he by of arc would avoid this battle and that he also knows but he shall not get the bridge we will see to that yes said d we must follow him and take care of that matter what of beau leave to me gentle duke i will have it in two hours and at no cost of blood it is true you will but need to deliver this news there and receive the surrender yes and i will be with you at the dawn the and his fifteen hundred and when knows that has fallen it will have an effect upon him by the mass cried la hire he will join his garrison to his army and break for paris then we shall have our bridge force with us again along with our and be stronger for our great day s work by four hundred able soldiers as was here promised within the hour verily this englishman is doing our errands for us and saving us much blood and trouble orders give us our orders they are simple let the men rest three hours longer at one o clock the u d will march under your command with of as second the second division will follow at two under the lieutenant general keep well in the rear of the ud s to it t j void ip by of arc engagement i will ride under guard to and make so quick work there that i and the of france will join you before dawn with his men she kept her word her guard mounted and we rode off through tlie rain taking with us a captured english officer to confirm s news we soon covered the journey and summoned the castle richard tin s lieutenant being convinced that he and his five hundred men were left helpless that it would be useless to try to hold out he could not expect easy terms yet granted them nevertheless his garrison could keep their horses and arms and carry away property to the value of a silver mark per man they could go whither they pleased but must not take arms against france again under ten days before dawn we were with our army again and with us the and nearly all his men for we left only a small garrison in castle we heard the dull of cannon to the front and knew that was beginning his attack on the bridge but some time before it was yet light the sound ceased and we heard it no more tin had sent a messenger through our lines under a safe conduct given by to of the surrender of course this had arrived ahead of us had held it wisdom to turn now and	34
comprehend france is on the way to be free and had never been but for of arc said la hire passing before her and bowing low the others following and doing likewise he muttering as he went i will say it though i be damned for it then after of our victorious army swung by wildly cheering and they shouted live forever maid of live forever while smiling stood at the salute with her sword this was not the last time i saw the maid of on the red field of toward the end of the day i came upon her where the dead and dying lay stretched all about in heaps and our men had wounded an english prisoner who was too poor to pay a and from a distance she had seen that cruel thing done and had galloped to the place and sent for a priest and now by i d d d w o r d m by by of she was holding the head of her dying enemy in her lap and him to his death with comforting soft words just as his sister might have done and the womanly tears running down her face all the time lord j an tf are p a says discovered this in the of of arc s page de was probably an of the scene this is true it was a part of the testimony of the author of these personal of of arc given bin la the by chapter had said true france was on the way to be free the war called the hundred years war was very sick to day sick on its english side for the very first time since its birth ninety one years gone by shall we judge battles by the numbers killed and the ruin wrought or shall we not rather judge them by the results which flowed from them any one will say that a battle is only truly great or small according to its results yes any one will grant that for it is the truth judged by results s place is with the few great and imposing battles that have been fought since the of the world first resorted to arms for the settlement of their quarrels so judged it is even possible that has no peer among that few just mentioned but stands alone as the of historic for when it began france lay gasping out the remnant of an exhausted life her case wholly hopeless in the view of all political when it ended three hours later she was and as by of arc ing requisite but time and ordinary nursing to bring her back to perfect health the physician of them all could see this and there was none to deny it many death sick nations have reached through a series of battles a procession of battles a weary tale of wasting stretching over years but only one has reached it in a single day and by a single battle that nation is france and that battle remember it and be proud of it for you are french and it is the fact in the long annals of your country there it stands with its head in the clouds and when you grow up you will go on pilgrimage to the field of and uncovered in the presence of what a monument with its head in the clouds yes for all nations in all times have built monuments on their to keep green the memory of the deed that wrought there and of the name of him who wrought it and will france neglect and of arc not for long and will she build a monument to their rank as compared with the world s other fields and heroes perhaps if there be room for it under the arch of the sky but let us look back a little and consider certain strange and impressive facts the hundred years war began in it raged on and on year after year and year after year and at last england stretched france prone with that fearful blow at by of arc cr but she rose and struggled on year after and at last again she went down under another blow she gathered her crippled strength once more and the war raged on and on and still on year after year after children were born grew up married died the war raged on their children in turn grew up married died the war raged on their children growing saw france struck down again this time under the incredible disaster of and still the war raged on year after year and in time these children married in their turn france was a wreck a ruin a desolation the half of it belonged to england with none to dispute or deny the truth the other half belonged to nobody in three months would be flying the english flag the french king was making ready to throw away his crown and flee beyond the seas now came the ignorant country maid out of her remote village and confronted this war this all that had swept the land for three generations then began the and most amazing campaign that is recorded in history in seven weeks it was finished in seven weeks she hopelessly crippled that gigantic war that was ninety one years old at she struck it a staggering blow on the field of she broke its back think of it yes one can do that but understand it ah that is another matter none will t ver be able to comprehend that marvel by of ate seven weeks with here and there a little perhaps the most of it in any single fight at where the english began six thousand strong and left two thousand dead upon the field it is said and believed that in three battles alone	34
cr and near a hundred thousand fell without counting the thousand other fights o that long war the dead of that war make a mournful long list an interminable list of slain in the field the count goes by of thousands of innocent women and children slain by bitter hardship and hunger it goes by that appalling term millions it was an that war an that went about for near a hundred years men and blood from his jaws and with her little hand that child of seventeen struck him down and yonder he lies stretched on the field of and will not get up any more while this old world lasts by chapter great news of was carried over the whole of france in hours people said i do not know as to that but one thing is sure anyway the moment a man got it he flew shouting and god and told his neighbor and that neighbor flew with it to the next and so on and so on without resting the word and when a man got it in the night at what hour he jumped out of his bed and bore the blessed message along and the joy that went with it was like the light that flows across the land when an is receding from the face of the sun and indeed you may say that france had lain in an this long time yes buried in a black gloom which these beneficent tidings were sweeping away now before the of their white splendor the news beat the flying enemy to and the town rose against its english masters and shut the gates against their brethren it flew to to saint and to this that and the other english fortress and straightway the garrison applied the torch and took to the fields and the by of arc woods a of our army occupied and it when we reached that town was as much as fifty times with joy than we had ever seen it before which is saying much night had just fallen and the were on so wonderful a scale that we seemed to through seas of fire and as to the noise the hoarse cheering of the multitude the thundering of cannon the clash of bells indeed there was never anything like it and everywhere rose a new cry that burst upon us like a storm when the column entered the gates and ceased welcome to of arc way for the of france and there was another cry cr is is is shall live forever mad why you never could imagine it in the world the prisoners were in the of the column when that came along and the people caught sight of their old enemy that had made them dance so long to his grim you may imagine what the uproar was like if you can for i cannot describe it they were so glad to see him that presently they wanted to have him out and hang him so had him brought up to the front to ride in her protection they made a striking pair by chapter yes was in a delirium of felicity she invited the king and made preparations to receive him but he didn t come he was simply a at that time and la was his master master and were visiting together at the master s castle of sur at had engaged to bring about a reconciliation between the and the king she took to sur and made her promise good the great deeds of of arc are five the raising of the siege the victory of the reconciliation at sur the of the king the march we shall come to the march presently and the it was the victorious long march which made through the enemy s country from to and thence to the gates of paris every english town and fortress that barred the road from the beginning of the by of journey to the end of it and this by the mere force of her name and without shedding a drop of blood perhaps the most extraordinary campaign in this regard in history this is the most glorious of her military exploits the reconciliation was one of s most important achievements no one else could have accomplished it and in fact no one else of high consequence had any disposition to try in brains in scientific warfare and in the con stable was the man in france his loyalty was sincere his was above suspicion and it made him sufficiently conspicuous in that trivial and court in restoring to france made thoroughly secure the successful completion of the great work which she had begun she had never seen until he came to her with his little army was it not wonderful that at a glance she should know him for the one man who could finish and perfect her work and establish it in how was it that that child was able to do this it was because she had the seeing eye as one of our knights had once said yes she had that great gift almost the highest and that has been granted to man nothing of an extraordinary sort was still to be done yet the remaining work could not safely be left to the king s for it would require wise and long and patient though of the enemy now by of arc and then for a quarter of a century yet there would be a little fighting to do and a handy man could carry that on with small disturbance to the rest of the country and little by little and with certainty the english would disappear from france and that happened under the influence of the king became at a later time a man a man a king a brave and capable	34
and determined soldier within six years after he was leading parties himself fighting in v fortress up to his waist in water and climbing under a furious fire with a pluck that would have satisfied even of arc in time he and cleared away all the english even from regions where the people had been under their for three hundred years in such regions wise and careful work was necessary for the english rule had been fair and kindly and men who have been ruled in that way are not always anxious for a change which of s five chief deeds shall we call chief est it is my thought that each in its turn was that this is saying that taken as a whole they each other and neither was then greater than its mate do you perceive each was a stage in an ascent to leave out one of them would defeat the journey to achieve one of them at the wrong time and in the wrong place would have the same effect by of arc consider the as a of where can you find its superior in our history did the king suspect its vast importance no did his ministers no did the representative of the english crown no an advantage of importance was here under the eyes of the king and of the king could get it by a bold stroke could get it without an effort but being ignorant of its value neither of them put forth his hand of all the wise people in high office in france only one knew the worth of this neglected prize the child of seventeen of arc and she had known it from the beginning had spoken of it from the beginning as an essential detail of her mission how did she know it it is simple she was a peasant that tells the whole story she was of the people and knew the people those others moved in a sphere and knew nothing much about them we make little account of that vague mass that mighty force which we call the people an epithet which carries contempt with it it is a strange attitude for at bottom we know that the throne which the people support stands and that when that support is removed nothing in this world can save it now then consider this fact and observe its importance whatever the parish priest believes his by of arc flock believes they love him they him he is their friend their protector their in sorrow their in their day of need he has their whole confidence what he tells them to do that they will do with a blind and affectionate obedience let it cost what it may add these facts thoughtfully together and what is the sum this the parish priest the nation what is the king then if the parish priest withdraw his support and deny his authority merely a shadow and no king let him resign do you get that idea then let us proceed a priest is consecrated to his office by the awful hand of god laid upon him by his appointed representative on earth that is final nothing can undo it nothing can remove it neither the pope nor any other power can strip the priest of his office god gave it and it is forever sacred and secure the dull parish knows all this to priest and parish is of god bears an office whose authority can no longer be disputed or assailed to the parish priest and to his subjects the nation an king is a of a person who has been named for holy orders but has not been consecrated he has no office he has not been ordained another may be appointed in his place in a word an king is a doubtful king but if god him and his servant the bishop him the doubt is the priest and the parish are his loyal subjects straight by of arc way and while he lives they will recognize no king but him to of arc the peasant girl charles vii was no king until he was crowned to her he was only the that is to say the heir if i have ever made her call him king it was a mistake she called him the and nothing else until after the it shows you as in a mirror for was a mirror in which the lowly hosts of france were clearly reflected that to all that vast force called the people he was no king but only before his crowning and was and king after it now you understand what a colossal move on the political the was realized this by and by and tried to patch up his mistake by crowning his king but what good could that do none in the world speaking of s great acts may be to that game each move was made in its proper order and it was great and effective because it was made in its proper order and not out of it each at the time made seemed the greatest move but the final result made them all as equally essential and equally important this is the game as played moves and check then moves the reconciliation but does not proclaim check it being a move for position and to effect later by of arc next she moves the check next the march check final move after her death the reconciled to the french king s elbow by chapter campaign of the had as good as opened the road to there was no sufficient reason now why the should not take place the would complete the mission which had received from heaven and then she would be forever done with war and would fly home to her mother and her sheep and never stir from	34
the and happiness any more that was her dream and she could not rest she was so impatient to see it fulfilled she became so possessed with this matter that i began to lose faith in her two of her early death and of course when i found that faith wavering i encouraged it to all the more the king was afraid to start to because the road was mile posted with english so to speak held them in light esteem and not things to be afraid of in the existing modified condition of english confidence and she was right as it turned out the march to was nothing but a holiday excursion did not even take any along she was k sure it would not be necessary we marched by ot arc from twelve thousand strong this was the th of june the maid rode by the side of the king on his other side was the duke d on after the duke followed three other princes of the blood after these followed the of the de and the admiral of france after these came la hire and a long procession of knights and we rested three days before the city the army and a waited upon the king but we did not enter the place saint opened its gates to the king on the th of july we reached saint and yonder lay before us a town which had a burning interest for us boys for we remembered how seven years before in the pastures of the came with his black flag and brought us the shameful news of the treaty of that treaty which gave france to england and a daughter of our royal line in marriage to the butcher of that poor town was not to blame of course yet we flushed hot with that old memory and hoped there would be a misunderstanding here for we dearly wanted to storm the place and burn it it was powerfully by english and and was expecting re from paris before night we before its gates and made rough work with a which marched out against us summoned to surrender its com by ic of arc seeing that she had no at the idea and sent her a insulting reply five days we consulted and no result the king was about to turn back now and give up he was afraid to go on leaving this strong place in his rear then la hire put in a word with a slap in it for some of his majesty s the maid of undertook this expedition of her own motion and it is my mind that it is her judgment that should be followed here and not that of any other let him be of whatsoever breed and standing he may there was wisdom and in that so the king sent for the maid and asked her how she thought the prospect looked she said without any tone of doubt or question in her voice in three days time the place is ours the put in a word now if we were sure of it we would wait here six days six days name of god man we will enter the gates to morrow then she mounted and rode her lines crying out make preparation to your work friends to your work we assault at dawn she worked hard that night away with her own hands like a common soldier she ordered and to be prepared and thrown into the thereby to bridge it and in this rough labor she took a man s share by of arc at dawn she took her place at the head of the force and the blew the assault at that moment a flag of was flung to the breeze from the walls and surrendered without firing a shot the next day the king with at his side and the bearing her banner entered the town in state at the head of the army and a goodly army it was now for it had been growing ever bigger and bigger from the first and now a curious thing happened by the terms of the treaty made with the town the garrison of english and were to be allowed to carry away their goods with them this was well for otherwise how would they buy the to live very well these people were all to go out by the one gate and at the time set for them to depart we young fellows went to that gate along with the dwarf to see the presently here they came in an interminable file the foot soldiers in the lead as they approached one could see that each bore a burden of a bulk and weight to sorely tax his strength and we said among ourselves truly these folk are well off for poor common soldiers when they were come nearer what do you think every rascal of them had a french prisoner on his back they were carrying away their goods you see their property strictly according to the permission granted by the by of arc now think how clever that was how ingenious what could a body say what could a body do for certainly these people were within their right these prisoners were property nobody could deny that my if those had been english conceive of the richness of that i for english prisoners had been scarce and precious for a hundred years whereas it was a different matter with french prisoners they had been for a century the possessor of a french prisoner did not hold him long for as a rule but presently killed him to save the cost of his keep this shows you how small was the value of such a possession in those times when we took a calf was worth thirty a sheep sixteen a french prisoner eight	34
it was an enormous price for those other animals a price which naturally seems incredible to you it was the war you see it worked two ways it made meat dear and prisoners cheap well here were these poor being carried off what could we do very little of a permanent sort but we did what we could we sent a messenger flying to and we and the french guards halted the procession for a to gain time you see a big lost his temper and swore a great oath that none should stop him he would go and would take his prisoner with him but we blocked him off and he saw that he was mistaken about going he couldn t do it he by of arc exploded into the and then and his prisoner from his back stood him up all bound and helpless then drew his knife and said to us with a light of sarcastic triumph in his eye i may not carry him away you say yet he is mine none will dispute it since i may not convey him hence this property of mine there is another way yes i can kill him not even the among you will question that right ah you had not thought of that that poor starved fellow begged us with his piteous eyes to save him then spoke and said he had a wife and little children at home think how it wrung our but what could we do the was within his right we could only beg and plead for the prisoner which we did and the enjoyed it he stayed his hand to hear more of it and laugh at it that stung then the dwarf said young let me him for when a matter requiring persuasion is to the fore i have indeed a gift in that sort as any will tell you that know me well you smile and that is punishment for my vanity and fairly earned i grant it you still if i may toy a little just a little saying which he stepped to the and began a fair soft speech all of goodly and gentle tenor and in the midst he mentioned the maid and was going on to say how she out of her good by of arc heart would prize and praise this compassionate deed which he was about to it was as far as he got the burst into his smooth with an insult at of arc we sprang forward but the dwarf his face all livid brushed us aside and said in a most grave and earnest way i your patience am not i her guard of honor this is my affair and saying this he suddenly shot his right hand out and the great by the throat and so held him upright on his feet you have insulted the maid he said and the maid is france the tongue that does that a long one heard the muffled of bones the s eyes began to from their and stare with a leaden at the color deepened in his face and became an purple his hands hung down limp his body with a shiver every muscle relaxed its and ceased from its function the dwarf took away his hand and the column of sank to the ground we struck the bonds from the prisoner and told him he was free his crawling changed to frantic joy in a moment and his ghastly fear to a childish rage he flew at that dead corpse and kicked it in its face danced upon it crammed mud into its mouth laughing cursing and by of arc forth and like a drunken it was a thing to be expected makes few saints many of the laughed others were indifferent none was surprised but presently in his mad the freed man within reach of the waiting file and another promptly slipped a knife through his neck and down he went with a his brilliant blood ten feet as straight and bright as a ray of light there was a great burst of jolly laughter all around from friend and foe alike and thus closed one of the incidents of my military life and now came and deeply troubled she considered the claim of the garrison then said you have right upon your side it is plain it was a careless word to put in the treaty and covers too much but ye may not take these poor men away they are french and i will not have it the king shall them every one wait till i send you word from him and hurt no hair of their heads for i tell you i who speak that that would cost you very dear that settled it the prisoners were safe for one while anyway then she rode back eagerly and required that thing of the king and listen to no and no excuses so the king told her to have her way and she rode straight back and bought the free in his name and let them go by chapter it was here that we saw again the grand master of the king s household in whose castle was guest when she at in those first days of her coming out of her own country she made him of now by the king s permission and now we marched again surrendered to us and there by in a talk being asked if she had no fears for the future said yes one treachery who could believe it who could dream it and yet in a sense it was prophecy truly man is a pitiful animal we marched marched kept on marching and at last on the i th of july we came in sight of our goal and saw the great cathedral towers of rise out of the distance after	34
swept the army from van to rear and as for of arc there where she sat her horse gazing clothed all in white dreamy beautiful and in her face a deep deep joy a joy not of earth oh she was not flesh she was a spirit her sublime mission was closing closing in triumph to by of arc morrow she could say it is finished let me go free we and the hurry and rush and turmoil of the grand preparations began the and a great arrived and after these came flock after flock crowd after crowd of citizens and country folk in with and music and flowed over the camp one rejoicing after another everybody drunk with happiness and all night long was hard at work away the town building arches and clothing the ancient cathedral within and without in a glory of we moved in the morning the ceremonies would begin at nine and last five hours we were aware that the garrison of english and soldiers had given up all thought of resisting the maid and that we should find the gates standing open and the whole city ready to welcome us with enthusiasm it was a delicious morning brilliant with sunshine but cool and fresh and inspiring the army was in great form and fine to see as it from its fold by fold and stretched away on the final march of the peaceful campaign on her black horse with the lieutenant general and the personal staff about her took post for a final review and a good bye for she was not expecting to ever be a soldier again or ever serve with these or any other soldiers any more by of arc si this day the army knew this and believed it was looking for the last time upon the girlish face of its invincible little chief its pet its pride its darling whom it had in its private heart with of its own creation calling her daughter of god of france victory s sweetheart the page of christ together with still softer titles which were simply and frank such as men are used to confer upon children whom they love and so one saw a new thing now a thing bred of the emotion that was present there on both sides always before in the the had gone swinging by in a storm of cheers heads up and eyes flashing the drums rolling the bands of victory but now there was nothing of that but for one impressive sound one could have closed his eyes and imagined himself in a world of the dead that one sound was all that visited the ear in the summer stillness just that one sound the muffled tread of the marching host as the masses drifted by the men put their right hands up to their temples palms to the front in military salute turning their eyes upon s face in mute god and farewell and keeping them there while they could they still kept their hands up in salute many steps after they had passed by every time put her handkerchief to her eyes you could see a little quiver of emotion th faces of the file by of arc the march past after a victory is a thing to drive the heart mad with but this one was a thing to break it we rode now to the king s lodging which was the s country palace and he was presently ready and we galloped off and took position at the head of the army by this time the country people were arriving in multitudes from every direction and themselves on both sides of the road to get sight of just as had been done every day since our first day s march began our march now lay through the grassy plain and those made a dividing double border for that plain they stretched right down through it a broad belt of bright colors on each side of the road for every peasant girl and woman in it had a white jacket on her body and a crimson skirt on the rest of her endless borders made of and lilies stretching away in front of us that is what it looked like and that is the kind of lane we had been marching through all these days not a lane between flowers standing upright on their stems no these flowers were always kneeling kneeling these human flowers with their hands and faces lifted toward of arc and the grateful tears streaming down and all along those to the road her feet and kissed them and laid their wet cheeks fondly against them i never during all those days saw any of either sex stand while she passed nor any man keep his head by of arc afterwards in the great trial these touching scenes were used as a weapon against her she had j been made an object of adoration by the people and this was proof that she was a so claimed that unjust court as we drew near the city the long sweep of and towers was gay with fluttering flags and black with masses of people and all the air was with the crash of and with drifting clouds of smoke we entered the gates in state and moved in procession through the city with all the and in holiday costume marching in our rear with their and all the route was with a crush of people and all the windows were full and all the roofs and from the hung costly of rich colors and the waving of handkerchiefs seen in perspective through a long vista was like a storm s name had been introduced into the prayers of the church an honor to but she had a dearer honor and an honor more to be proud	34
the began they were long and imposing with prayers and and sermons and everything that is right for such occasions and was at the king s side all these hours with her standard in her hand but at last came the grand act the king took the oath by of arc he was with the sacred oil a splendid personage followed by train and other at approached bearing the crown of france upon a cushion and kneeling offered it the king seemed to hesitate in fact did hesitate for he put out his hand and then stopped with it there in the air over the crown the fingers in the attitude of taking hold of it but that was for only a moment though a moment is a notable something when it stops the heart beat of twenty thousand people and makes them catch their breath yes only a moment then he caught s eye and she gave him a look with all the joy of her thankful great soul in it then he smiled and took the crown of france in his hand and right finely and right lifted it up and set it upon his head then what a crash there was all about us cries and cheers and the of the and groaning of the organ and outside the of the bells and the of the cannon the fantastic dream the incredible dream the impossible dream of the peasant child stood fulfilled the english power was broken the heir of france was crowned she was like one so divine was the joy that shone in her face as she sank to her knees at the king s feet and looked up at him through her tears her lips were quivering and her words came soft and low and broken o gentle king is the pleasure of god by of arc accomplished according to his command that you should come to and receive the crown that of right to you and unto none other my work which was given me to do is finished give me your peace and let me go back to my mother who is poor and old and has need of me the king raised her up and there before all that host he praised her great deeds in most noble terms and there he confirmed her nobility and titles making her the equal of a count in rank and also appointed a household and officers for her according to her dignity and then he said you have saved the crown speak require demand and whatsoever grace you ask it shall be granted though it make the kingdom poor to meet it now that was fine that was ro was on her knees again straightway and said then o gentle king if out of your sion you will speak the word i pray you give that my village poor and hard pressed by reason of the war may have its taxes it is so commanded say on that is all all nothing but that it is all i have no other desire but that is nothing less than nothing ask do not be af indeed i cannot gentle king do not pr ss by of arc me i will not have aught else but only this alone the king seemed and stood still a moment as if trying to comprehend and realize the full stature of this strange then he raised his head and said she has won a kingdom and crowned its king and all she asks and all she will take is this poor grace and even this is for others not for herself and it is well her act being to the dignity of one who carries in her head and heart riches which any that any king could add though he gave his all she shall have her way now therefore it is that from this day forth village of of arc of france called the maid of is freed from all forever the silver horns blew a blast there you see she had had a vision of this very scene the time she was in a trance in the pastures of and we asked her to name the boon she would demand of the king if he should ever chance to tell her she might claim one but whether she had the vision or not this act showed that after all the dizzy that had come upon her she was still the same simple unselfish creature that she was that day yes charles vii those taxes forever often the gratitude of kings and nations and their promises are forgotten or deliberately by ot arc but you who are children of france should remember with pride that france has kept this one faithfully sixty three years have gone by since that day the taxes of the region wherein lies have been collected sixty three times since then and all the villages of that region have paid except that one the tax never visits has long ago forgotten what that dreaded sorrow apparition is like sixty three tax books have been filled meantime and they lie yonder with the other public records and any may see them that desire it at the top of every page in the sixty three books stands the name of a village and below that name its weary burden of is figured out and displayed in the case of all save one it is true just as i tell you in each of the sixty three books there is a page headed but under that name not a figure appears where the figures should be there are three words written and the same words have been written every year for all these years yes it is a blank page with always those grateful words across the face	34
when he looks out on his of by of arc the awful of space and with that they are his all his well they j were the happiest old children one ever saw and the simplest the city gave a grand banquet to the king and in mid afternoon and to the court and the grand staff and about the middle of it p re d arc and were sent for but would not venture until it was promised that they might sit in a gallery and be all by themselves and see all that was to be seen and yet be and so they sat there and looked down upon the splendid spectacle and were moved till the tears ran down their cheeks to see the honors that were paid to their small darling and how serene and she sat there with those glories beating upon her but at last her serenity was broken up yes it stood the strain of the king s gracious speech and of d s words and the s and even la hire s thunder blast which took the place by storm but at last as i have said they brought a force to bear which was too strong for her for at the close the king put up his hand to con silence and so waited with his hand up till every sound was dead and it was as if one could almost feel the stillness so profound it was then out of some remote corner of that vast place there rose a plaintive voice and in tones most tender and sweet and rich came floating through that en by or are hush our poor old simple song l le and then broke down and put her face in her hands and cried yes you see all in a moment the and dissolved away and she was a little child again her sheep with the tranquil pastures stretched about her and war and wounds and blood and death and the mad frenzy and turmoil of battle a dream ah that shows you the power of music that of who lifts his and says his mysterious word and all things real pass away and the of your mind walk before you clothed in flesh that was the king s invention that sweet and dear surprise indeed he had fine things hidden away in his nature though one seldom got a glimpse of them with that and those others always standing in the light and he so content to save himself fuss and argument and let them have their way at the fall of night we the of the personal staff were with the father and uncle at the inn in their private parlor generous drinks and breaking ground for a homely talk about and the neighbors when a large parcel arrived from to be kept till she came and soon she came herself and sent her guard away saying she would take one pi her father s rooms and sleep under his roof and so be at home again we pf the staff rose and as meet until sh by of arc made us sit then she turned and saw that the two old men had gotten up too and were standing in an embarrassed and way which made her want to laugh but she kept it in as not wishing to hurt them and got them to their seats and down between them and took a hand of each of them upon her knees and her own hands in them and said now we will have no more ceremony but be kin and as in other times for i am done with the great wars now and you two will take me home with you and i shall sec she stopped and for a moment her happy face as if a doubt or a had flitted through her mind then it cleared again and she said with a passionate yearning oh if the day were but come and we could start the old father was surprised and said why child are you in earnest would you leave doing these wonders that make you to be praised by everybody while there is still so much glory to be won and would you go out from this grand with princes and to be a again and a nobody it is not rational no said the uncle it is amazing to hear and indeed not it is a stranger thing to hear her say she will stop the than it was to hear her say she would begin it and i who to you can say in all truth that that was the by of arc strangest word that ever i had heard till this day and hour i would it could be explained it is not difficult said i was not ever fond of wounds and suffering nor fitted by my nature to inflict them and did always distress me and noise and tumult were against my liking my disposition being toward peace and and love for all things that have life and being made like this how could i bear to think of wars and blood and the pain that goes with them and the sorrow and mourning that follow after but by his angels god laid his great commands upon me and could i i did as i was bid did he command me to do many things no only two to raise the siege of and crown the king at the task is finished and i am free has ever a poor soldier fallen in my sight whether friend or foe and i not felt his pain in my own body and the grief of his home mates in my own heart no not one and oh it is such bliss to know that my release is won and that i shall	34
not any more see these cruel things or suffer these of the mind again then why should i not go to my village and be as i was before it is heaven and ye wonder that i desire it ah ye are men just men my mother would understand they didn t quite know what to say so they sat still awhile looking pretty vacant then old d arc said yes your mother that is true i never saw by of arc such a woman she and and and wakes nights and lies so thinking that is worrying worrying about you and when the night storms go raging along she and says ah god pity her she is out in this with her poor wet soldiers and when the lightning and the thunder she her hands and saying it is like the awful cannon and the flash and yonder somewhere she is riding upon the guns and i not there to protect her ah poor mother it is pity it is pity yes a most strange woman as i have noticed a many times when there is news of a victory and all the village goes mad with pride and joy she rushes here and there in a frenzy till she finds out the one only thing she cares to know that you are safe then down she goes on her knees in the dirt and praises god as long as there is any breath left in her body and all on your account for she never the battle once and rs she says now it is over now france is saved now she will come home and always is pointed and goes about mourning don t father it breaks my heart i will be so good to her when i get home i will do her work for her and be her comfort and she shall not suffer any more through me there was some more talk of this sort then uncle said by of arc you have done the will of god dear and are it is true and none may deny it but what of the king you are his best soldier what if he command you to stay that was a and sudden it took a moment or two to recover from the shock of it then she said quite simply and the king is my lord i am his servant she was silent and thoughtful a little while then she brightened up and said cheerily but let us drive such thoughts away this is no time for them tell me about home so the two old talked and talked talked about everything and everybody in the village and it was good to hear out of her kindness tried to get us into the conversation but that failed of course she was the commander in chief we were her name was the in france we were invisible she was the comrade of princes and heroes we of the humble and obscure she held rank above all personages and all whatsoever in the whole earth by right of bearing her commission direct from god to put it in one word she was of arc and when that is said all is said to us she was divine between her and us lay the abyss which that word we could not be familiar with her no you can see yourselves that that would have been impossible and yet she was human too and so good and by of arc kind and dear and loving and cheery and charming and and unaffected those are all the words i think of now but they are not enough no they are too few and and to tell it all or tell the half those simple old men didn t realize her they couldn t they had never known any people but human beings and so they had no other standard to measure her by to them after their first little shyness had worn of she was just a girl that was all it was amazing it made one shiver sometimes to see how calm and easy and comfortable they were in her presence and hear them talk to her exactly as they would have talked to any other girl in france why that simple old sat up there and out the most tedious and empty tale one ever heard and neither he nor papa d arc ever gave a thought to the of the etiquette of it or ever suspected that that foolish tale was anything but dignified c nd valuable history there was not an of value in it and whilst they thought it distressing and pathetic it was in fact not pathetic at all but actually ridiculous at least it seemed so to me and it seems so yet indeed i know it was because it made laugh and the more sorrowful it got the more it made her laugh and the said that he could have laughed himself if she had not been there and said the same it was about old going to a funeral there at two or three weeks back by of arc he had spots all over his face and hands and he got to rub some healing on them and while she was doing it and comforting him and trying to say pitying things to him he told her how it happened and first he asked her if she remembered that black bull calf that she left behind when she came away and she said indeed she did and he was a dear and she loved him so and was he well and just drowned him in questions about that creature and he said it was a young bull now and very and he was to bear a principal hand at a funeral and she said the bull and he	34
in a great many respects like ourselves and i believe that some day they will find this out by of too and well then i think they will up and demand to be regarded as part of the race and that by consequence there will be trouble whenever one sees in a book or in a s those words the nation they bring before us the upper classes only those we know no other nation for us and the kings no other nation exists but from the day that i saw old d arc the peasant acting and feeling just as i should have acted and felt myself h have carried the conviction in my heart that our are not merely animals beasts of burden put here by the good god to produce food and comfort for the nation but something more and better you look incredulous well that is your training it is the training of everybody but as for me i thank that incident for giving me a better light and i have never forgotten it let me see where was i one s mind around here and there and yonder when one is old i think i said comforted him certainly that is what she would do there was no need to say that she him and him and him and laid the memory of that old hard speech of bis to rest laid it to rest until she should be dead then he would remember it again yes yes i lord how those things sting and burn and the things which we did against the innocent dead and we say in our anguish if they could om back which is all very well to say by of arc but as far as i can see it doesn t profit anything in my opinion the best way is not to do the thing in the first place and i am not alone in this i have heard our two knights say the same thing and a man there in no i believe it was at or one of those places it seems more as if it was at than the others this man said the same thing exactly almost the same words a dark man with a cast in his eye and one leg shorter than the other his name was was it is singular that i can t call that man s name i had it in my mind only a moment ago and i know it be with no i don t remember what it begins with but never mind let it go i will think of it presently and then i will tell you well pretty soon the old father wanted to know how felt when she was in the thick of a battle with the bright blades and flashing all around her and the blows and on her shield and blood on her from the ghastly face and broken teeth of the neighbor at her elbow and the perilous sudden back of horses upon a person when the front ranks give way before a heavy rush of the enemy and men tumble limp and groaning out of all around and battle flags falling from dead hands wipe across one s face and hide the tossing turmoil a moment and in the and swaying and laboring one s horse s hoofs sink into soft and shrieks of pain respond and presently panic rush swarm by of arc flight and death and hell following after and the old fellow got ever so much excited and strode up and down his tongue going like a mill asking question after question and never waiting for an answer and finally he stood up in the middle of the room and stepped off and her and said no i don t understand it you are so little so little and slender when you had your on to day it gave one a sort of notion of it but in these pretty and you are only a dainty page not a league war moving in clouds and darkness and breathing smoke and thunder i would god i might see you at it and go tell your mother that would help her sleep poor thing here teach me the arts of the soldier that i may explain them to her and she did it she gave him a and put him through the manual of arms and made him do the steps too his marching was awkward and and so was his with the but he didn t know it and was wonderfully pleased with himself and excited and charmed with the ringing crisp words of command i am obliged to say that if looking proud and happy when one is marching were sufficient he would have been the perfect soldier and he wanted a lesson in sword play and got it but of course that was beyond him he was too old it was beautiful to see handle the by of arc but the old man was a bad failure he was afraid of the things and and and scrambled around like a woman who has lost her mind on account of the arrival of a bat he was of no good as an exhibition but if la hire had only come in that would have been another matter those two often i saw them many times true was easily his master but it made a good show for all that for la hire was a grand what a swift creature was you would see her standing erect with her ankle bones together and her foil arched over her head the in one hand and the button in the other the old general opposite bent forward left hand on his back his foil advanced slightly and his watching eye straight into hers	34
and all of a sudden she would give a spring forward and back again and there she was with the foil arched over her head as before la hire had been hit but all that the spectator saw of it was a something like a thin flash of light in the air but nothing distinct nothing definite we kept the moving for that would please the and the landlord and old and d arc got to feeling quite comfortable but without being what you could call they got out the presents which they had been buying to carry home humble things and cheap but they would be fine there and welcome and they gave to a present from p re and one from her mother by of arc the one a leaden image of the holy virgin the other half a yard of blue silk ribbon and she was as pleased as a child and touched too as one could see plainly enough yes she kissed those poor things over and over again as if they had been something costly and wonderful and she pinned the virgin on her and sent for her and tied the ribbon on that first one way then another then a new way then another new way and with each effort the on her hand and holding it off this way and that and her head to one side and then the other examining the effect as a bird does when it has got a new and she said she could almost wish she was going to the wars again for then she would fight with the better courage as having always with her something which her mother s touch had blessed old said he hoped she would go to the wars again but home first for that all the people there were cruel anxious to see her and so he went on they are proud of you dear yes than any village ever was of anybody before and indeed it is right and rational for it is the first time a village has ever had anybody like you to be proud of and call its own and it is strange and beautiful how they try to give your name to every creature that has a sex that is convenient it is but half a year since you began to be spoken of and left us and so it is surprising to see how many babies there by of arc are already in that region that are named for you first it was just then it was then and now the next ones will have a lot of towns and the tion added of course yes and the animals the same they know how you love animals and so they try to do you honor and show their love for you by all those creatures after you that if a body should step out and call of arc there would be a of cats and all such things each supposing it was the one wanted and all to take the benefit of the doubt anyway for the sake of the food that might be on delivery the you left behind the last you fetched home bears your name now and belongs to p e and is the pet and pride of the village and people have come miles to look at it and pet it and stare at it and wonder over it because it was of arc s cat everybody will tell you that and one day when a stranger threw a stone at it not knowing it was your cat the village rose against him as one man and hanged him and but for p re there was an interruption it was a messenger from the king bearing a note for which i read to her sa he had reflected and had consulted his other and was obliged to ask her to main at the head of the army and withdraw her resignation also would she come immediately and attend a council f war at a by of arc distance military commands and the of drums broke on the still night and we knew that her guard was approaching deep disappointment clouded her face for just one moment and no more it passed and with it the girl and she was of arc commander in chief again and ready for duty by chapter in my double quality of page and secretary i followed to the council she entered that presence with the bearing of a grieved goddess what was become of the child that so lately was enchanted with a ribbon and with laughter over the of a foolish peasant who had a funeral on the back of a bee stung bull one may not guess simply it was gone and had left no sign she moved straight to the council table and stood her glance swept from face to face there and where it fell these it lit as with a torch those it as with a brand she knew where to strike she indicated the with a nod and said my business is not with you you have not a council of war then she turned toward the king s council and continued no it is with you a council of war it is amazing there is but one thing to do and only one and lo ye call a council of war of war have no value but to decide between two or several doubtful courses but a council of war when there is only by of one course conceive of a man in a boat and h s family in the water and he goes out among his friends to ask what he would better do a council of war name of god to determine what she stopped and turned till her eyes rested upon the face	34
are by no new breed of english but by the same breed as those others with the same fears the same the same weaknesses the same disposition to see the heavy hand of god descending upon them we have but to march on the instant and they are ours paris is ours france is ours give the word o my king command your servant to stay cried the it would be madness to put this upon his the duke of by the treaty which we have every hope to make with him oh the treaty which we hope to make with him he has scorned you for years and defied you is it your subtle that have softened his by of arc manners and him to listen to proposals no it was blows the blows which we gave him that is the only teaching that that sturdy rebel can understand what does he care for wind the treaty which we hope to make with him he deliver paris there is no in the land that is less able to do it he deliver paris ah but that would make great smile i oh the pitiful pretext i the blind can see that this thin with its fifteen day has no purpose but to time to hurry forward his forces against us more treachery rs treachery we call a council of war nothing to council about but calls no council to teach him what our one course is he knows what he would do in our place he would hang his and march upon paris o gentle king rouse the way is open paris france speak and we it is madness sheer madness your ex we cannot we must not go back from what we have done we have proposed to treat we must treat with the duke of and we will said ah how m the point of the lance r the house rose to a man all that had french hearts and let go a crash of applause and kept it up and in the midst of it one heard la hire growl out at the point of the lance by god by of arc that is the music the king was up too and drew his sword and took it by the blade and strode to and delivered the of it into her hand saying there the king carry it to paris and so the applause burst out again and the historical council of war that has bred so many legends was over by chapter it was away past midnight and had been a day in the matter of excitement and fatigue but that was no matter to when there was business on hand she did not think of bed the followed her to her official quarters and she delivered her orders to them as fast as she could talk and they sent them off to their different commands as fast as delivered wherefore the messengers galloping hither and thither raised a world of clatter and in the still streets and soon were added to this the music of distant and the roll of drums notes of preparation the would break camp at dawn the were soon dismissed but i wasn t nor for it was my turn to work now walked the floor and dictated a summons to the duke of to lay down his arms and make peace and exchange with the king or if he must fight go fight the k de bon et s il de les it was by of are long but it was good and had the sterling ring to it it is my opinion that it was as fine and simple and straightforward and eloquent a state paper as she ever uttered it was delivered into the hands of a and he galloped away with it then dismissed me and told me to to the inn and stay and in the morning give to her father the parcel which she had left there it contained presents for the relatives and friends and a peasant dress which she had bought for herself she said she would say good bye to her father and uncle in the morning if it should still be their purpose to go instead of awhile to see the city i didn t say anything of course but i could have said that wild horses couldn t keep those men in that town half a day they waste the glory of being the first to carry the great news to the taxes forever i and hear the bells and clatter and the people cheer and shout oh not they and and the were events which in a vague way these men understood to be colossal but they were colossal mists this was a gigantic reality when i got there do you suppose they were quite the reverse they and the rest were as mellow as mellow could be and the was doing his battles over in great style and the old were the building with their applause he was doing now and was bending bis big by of arc s frame forward and laying out the positions and movements with a here and a there of his formidable sword on the floor and the were stooped over with their hands on spread knees observing with excited eyes and out of wonder and admiration all along yes here we were waiting waiting for the word our horses and and dancing to get away we lying back on the till our bodies fairly to the rear the word rang out at last go and we went went there was nothing like it ever seen where we swept by of english the mere wind of our passage laid them flat in piles and	34
we actually did start back the fifteen day had just been concluded with the duke of and we would go and at until he should deliver paris to us without a fight we marched to then the king changed his mind once more and with it his face toward paris dictated a letter to the citizens of to encourage them to keep heart in spite of the and promising to stand by them she furnished them the news herself that the king had made this and in speaking of it she was her usual frank self she said she was not satisfied with it and didn t know whether she would keep it or not that by of arc if she kept it it would be solely out of tenderness for the king s honor all french children know those famous words how they are de qui a iti je ne pas et je ne si je la si je la ce pour du but in any case she said she would not allow the blood royal to be abused and would keep the army in good order and ready for work at the end of the poor child to have to fight england and a french conspiracy all at the same time it was too bad she was a match for the others but a conspiracy ah nobody is a match for that when the victim that is to be injured is weak and willing it grieved her these troubled days to be so and delayed and baffled and at times she was sad and the tears lay near the surface once talking with her good old faithful friend and servant the of she said ah if it might but please god to let me put ofi this steel and go back to my father and my mother and tend my sheep again with my sister and my brothers who would be so glad to see me by the i th of august we were neat later we had a brush with s rear guard and had hopes of a big battle on the morrow but and all his force got away in the night and went on toward paris charles sent and received the submission by of arc of the bishop that faithful friend and slave of the english was not able to prevent it though he did his best he was obscure then but his name was to travel round the globe presently and live forever in the curses of france i bear with me now while i spit in fancy upon his grave surrendered and hauled down the english flag on the th we two from turned and approached and took up a strong position we went against him but all our efforts to him out from his failed though he had promised us a in the open field night shut down let him look out for the morning but in the morning he was gone again we entered the i th of august turning out the english garrison and our own flag on the d gave command to move upon paris the king and the were not satisfied with this and retired to which had just surrendered within a few days many strong places submitted saint sur la the english power was tumbling crash after crash i and still the king and and was afraid of our movement against the capital on the th of august at saint in effect under the walls of paris by of arc and still the king hung back and was aft aid if we could but have had him there to back us with his had lost heart and decided to resistance and go and his strength in the best and province remaining to him ah if we could only have persuaded the king to come and countenance us with his ence and approval at this supreme moment by chapter xl after was despatched to the king and he promised to come but didn t the duke d on went to him and got his promise again which he broke again nine days were lost thus then he came arriving at st september th meantime the enemy had begun to take heart the conduct of the king could have no other result preparations had now been made to defend the city s chances had been diminished but she and her considered them plenty good enough yet ordered the attack for eight o clock next morning and at that hour it began placed and began to pound a strong work which protected the gate st honor when it was sufficiently crippled the assault was sounded at noon and it was carried by storm then we moved forward to storm the gate itself and hurled ourselves against it again and again in the lead with her standard at her side the smoke us in choking clouds and the flying over us and through us as thick as hail in the midst of our last assault which would have by of arc carried the gate sure and given us paris and in effect france was struck down by a bolt and our men fell back instantly and almost in a panic for what were they without her she was the army herself although she refused to retire and begged that a new assault be made saying it must win and adding with the battle light rising in her eyes i will take paris now or die she had to be carried away by force and this was done by and the duke d but her spirits were at the very top now she was with enthusiasm she said she would be carried before the gate in the morning and in half an hour paris would be ours without any question she could have kept her word about this there was no doubt but she forgot one	34
the king shadow of that substance named la the king forbade the attempt you see a new had just come from the duke of and another sham private trade of some sort was on foot you would know without my telling you that s heart was nearly broken because of the pain of her wound and the pain at her heart she slept little that night several times the heard muffled sobs from the dark room where she lay at st and many times the words it could have been taken it could have been taken which were the only ones she said by of arc she dragged herself out of bed a day later with a new hope d had thrown a bridge across the near st might she not cross by that and assault paris at another point but the king got wind of it and broke the bridge down and more he declared the campaign ended and more still he had made a new and a long one in which he had agreed to leave paris and and go back to the whence he had come of arc who had never been defeated by the enemy was defeated by her own king she had said once that all she feared for her cause was treachery it had struck its first blow now she hung up her white in the royal of st and went and asked the king to relieve her of her functions and let her go home as usual she was wise grand far reaching great military moves were at an now for the future when the should end the war would be merely a war of random and idle apparently work suitable for and not requiring the of a sublime military genius but the king would not let her go the did not embrace all france there were french to be watched and preserved he would need her really you see wanted to keep her where he could and hinder her now came her voices again they said remain at st there was no explanation by arc tbey did not say why that was the voice of god it took of the command of the king resolved to stay but that filled la with dread she was too tremendous a force to be left to herself she would surely defeat all his plans he the king to use had to submit because she was wounded and helpless in the great trial she said she was carried away against her will and that if she had not been wounded it could not have been accomplished ah she had a spirit that slender girl a spirit to brave all earthly powers and defy them we shall never know why the voices ordered her to stay we only know this that if she could have obeyed the history of france would not be as it now stands written in the books yes well we know that on the th of september the army sad and turned its face toward the and marched without music i yes one noted that detail it was a funeral march that is what it was a long dreary funeral with never a shout or a cheer friends looking on in tears all the way enemies laughing we reached at last that place whence we had set out on our splendid march toward less than three months before with flags flying bands playing the victory flush of glowing in our faces and the multitudes shouting and and giving us god speed there was a dull rain falling now the day was dark the heavens mourned the spectators were few by of arc we had no welcome but the welcome of silence and pity and tears then the king that noble army of heroes it its flags it stored its arms the disgrace of france was complete la wore the victor s crown of arc the was conquered by chapter es it was as i have said had paris and france in her grip and the hundred years war under her heel and the king made her open her fist and take away her foot now followed about eight months of drifting about with the king and his council and his gay and and dancing and and and and and court drifting from town to town and from castle to castle a life which was pleasant to us of the personal staff but not to however she only saw it she didn t live it the king did his best to make her happy and showed a most kind and constant anxiety in this matter all others had to go loaded with the chains of an court etiquette but she was free she was privileged so that she paid her duty to the king once a day and passed the pleasant word nothing further was required of her naturally then she made herself a and grieved the weary days through in her own apartments with her thoughts and for company and the planning of now forever by of arc military for entertainment in fancy she moved bodies of men from this and that and the other point so calculating the dis to be covered the time required for each body and the nature of the country to be traversed as to have them appear in sight of each other on a given day or at a given hour and for battle it was her only game her only relief from her burden of sorrow and she played it hour after hour as others play and lost herself in it and so got repose for her mind and healing for her heart she never complained of course it was not her way she was the sort that endure in silence but she was a eagle just the same and for the free air and the heights	34
and the fierce joys of the storm france was full of soldiers ready for anything that might turn up several times at intervals when s dull grew too heavy to bear she was allowed to gather a troop of cavalry and make a health restoring dash against the enemy these things were like a bath to her spirits it was like old times there at saint le to see her lead assault after assault be driven back again and again but always rally and charge anew all in a blaze of eagerness and delight till at last the tempest of rained so thick that old d who was wounded by of sounded the retreat for the king had ed on his head to let no harm come to and away everybody rushed after him as he supposed but when he turned and looked there were we of the staff still away wherefore he rode back and urged her to come saying she was mad to stay there with only a dozen men her eye danced merrily and she turned upon him crying out a dozen men name of god i have fifty thousand and will never till this place is taken sound the charge which he did and over the walls we went and the fortress was ours old d thought her mind was wandering but all she meant was that she felt the might of fifty thousand men in her heart it was a fanciful expression but to my thinking truer word was never said then there was the near where we charged the through the open field four times the last time the best prize of it d the and pitiless of the region now and then other such and at last away toward the end of may we were in the neighborhood of and resolved to go to the help of that place which was being by the duke of i had been wounded lately and was not able to ride without help but the good dwarf took me on behind him i ad i held on to him wi was safe by of arc enough we started at midnight in a sullen of warm rain and went slowly and softly and in dead silence for we had to slip through the enemy s lines we were only once we made no answer but held our breath and crept steadily and stealthily along and got through without any accident about three or half past we reached just as the gray dawn was breaking in the east set to work at once and a plan with de captain of the city a plan for a toward evening against the enemy who was posted in three bodies on the other side of the in the level plain from our side one of the city gates communicated with a bridge the end of this bridge was defended on the other side of the river by one of those called a and this also commanded a raised road which stretched from its front across the plain to the village of a force of occupied another was at a couple of miles above the raised road and a body of english was holding a mile and a half below it a kind of bow and arrow arrangement you see the the arrow the at the feather end of it at the at one end of the bow at the other s plan was to go straight per against carry it by assault then turn swiftly upon up to the right and capture that by cf arc camp in the same way then face to the rear and be ready for heavy work for the duke of lay behind with a reserve s lieutenant with and the of the was to keep the english troops from coming up from below and seizing the and cutting off s retreat in case she should have to make one also a fleet of covered boats was to be stationed near the as an additional help in case a retreat should become necessary it was the th of may at four in the afternoon moved out at the head of six hundred cavalry on her last march in this life it breaks my heart i had got myself helped up on to the walls and from there i saw much that happened the rest was told me long afterward by our two knights and other eye witnesses crossed the bridge and soon left the behind her and went away over the raised road with her at her heels she had on a brilliant silver gilt cape over her and i could see it and and rise and fall like a little patch of white flame it was a bright day and one could see far and wide over that plain soon we saw the english force advancing swiftly and in handsome order the sunlight flashing from its arms into the at and was then she saw the other moving down from rallied her men by of arc ii and charged again and was again rolled back two occupy a good deal of time and time was precious here the english were approaching the road now from but the opened fire on them and they were checked her men with inspiring words and led them to the charge again in great style this time she carried with a then she turned at once to the right and plunged into the plain and struck the force which was just arriving then there was heavy work and plenty of it the two armies each other backward turn about and about and victory first to the one then to the other now all of a sudden there was a panic on our side some say one thing caused it some another some say the made our front ranks think retreat was being cut off by the	34
english some say the rear ranks got the idea that was killed anyway our men broke and went flying in a wild for the tried to rally them and face them around crying to them that victory was sure but it did no good they divided and swept by her like a wave old d begged her to retreat while there was yet a chance for safety but she refused so he seized her horse s bridle and bore her along with the wreck and ruin in spite of herself and so along the they came that wild confusion of men and horses and the had to stop firing of course consequently the english and by of arc closed in in safety the former in front the latter behind their prey clear to the the french were washed in this and there in an angle formed by the flank of the and the slope of the they bravely fought a hopeless fight and sank down one by one watching from the city wall ordered the gate to be closed and the raised this shut out the little personal guard around her swiftly both of our good knights went down s two brothers fell wounded then all wounded while from blows aimed at her when only the dwarf and the were left they would not give up but stood their ground stoutly a pair of steel towers and with blood and where the axe of the one fell and the sword of the other an enemy gasped and died and so fighting and loyal to their duty to the last good simple souls they came to their honorable end peace to their memories they were very dear to me then there was a cheer and a rush and still defiant still laying about her with her sword was seized by her cape and dragged from her horse she was borne away a prisoner to the duke of s camp and after her followed the victorious army roaring its joy the awful news started instantly on its round by of from lip to lip it flew and wherever it came it struck the people as with a sort of and they murmured over and over again as if they were talking to themselves or in their sleep the maid of taken of arc a prisoner the of france lost to us and would keep saying that over as if they couldn t understand how it could be or how god could permit it poor creatures you know what a city is like when it is hung from to pavement with rustling black then you know what was like and some other cities but can any man tell you what the mourning in the hearts of the of france was like no nobody can tell you that and poor dumb things they could not have told you themselves but it was there indeed yes why it was the spirit of a whole nation hung with the th of may we will draw down the curtain now upon the most strange and pathetic and wonderful military drama that has been played upon the stage of the world of arc will march no more r by by f f f trial and iu by by chapter i i cannot bear to dwell at great length upon the shameful history of the summer and winter following the capture for a while i was not much troubled for i was expecting every day to hear that had been put to and that the king no not the king but grateful france had come eagerly forward to pay it by the laws of war she could not be denied the privilege of she was not a rebel she was a constituted soldier head of the armies of france by her king s appointment and guilty of no crime known to military law therefore she could not be detained upon any pretext if were proffered but day after day dragged by and no was offered it seems incredible but it is true was that busy at the king s ear all we know is that the king was silent and made no offer and no effort in behalf of this poor girl who had done so much for him but unhappily there was alacrity enough in another quarter the news of the capture reached paris the day after it happened and the glad xi by of arc and the world all the day and all the night with the of their joy bells and the thankful thunder of their and the next day the general of the sent a message to the duke of requiring the delivery of the prisoner into the hands of the church to be tried as an the english had seen their opportunity and it was the english power that was really acting not the church the church was being used as a blind a disguise and for a forcible reason the church was not only able to take the life of of arc but to her influence and the breeding inspiration of her name whereas the english power could but kill her body that would not or destroy the influence of her name it would it and make it permanent of arc was the only power in france that the english did not despise the only power in france that they considered formidable if the church could be brought to take her life or to proclaim her an a a witch sent from satan not from heaven it was believed that the english could be at once the duke of listened but waited he could not doubt that the french king or the french people would come forward presently and pay a higher price than the english he kept a close prisoner in a strong fortress and continued to wait week after week he was	34
a french prince by of arc and was at heart ashamed to sell her to the english yet with all his waiting no offer came to him from the french side one day played a cunning trick on her and not only slipped out of her prison but locked him up in it but as she fled away she was seen by a and was caught and brought back then she was sent to a stronger castle this was early in august and she had been in more than two months now here she was shut up in the top of a tower which was sixty feet high she ate her heart there for another long stretch about three months and a half and she was aware all these weary five months of that the english under cover of the church were for her as one would for a horse or a slave and that france was silent the king silent all her friends the same yes it was pitiful and yet when she heard at last that was being closely and likely to be captured and that the enemy had declared that no of it should escape not even children of seven years of age she was in a fever at once to fly to our rescue so she tore her bed clothes to and tied them together and descended this frail rope in the night and it broke and she fell and was badly bruised and remained three days insensible meantime neither eating nor drinking and now came relief to us led by the count of by of arc and was saved and the siege raised this was a disaster to the duke of he had to have money now it was a good time for a new bid to be made for of arc the english at once sent a french bishop that forever infamous of he was partly promised the of which was vacant if he should succeed he claimed the right to over s trial because the battle ground where she was taken was within his by the military usage of the time the of a royal prince was of gold which is a fixed sum you see it must be accepted when offered it could not be refused brought the offer of this very sum from the english a royal prince s for the poor little peasant girl of it shows in a striking way the english idea of her formidable importance it was accepted for that sum of arc the of france was sold sold to her enemies to the enemies of her country enemies who had lashed and and and france for a century and made holiday sport of it enemies who had forgotten years and years ago what a frenchman s face was like so used were they to seeing nothing but his back enemies whom she had whipped whom she had whom she had taught to respect french new born in her nation by the breath of her by of arc spirit enemies who for her life as being the only able to stand between english triumph and french degradation sold to a french priest by a french prince with the french king and the french nation standing by and saying nothing and she what did she say nothing not a reproach passed her lips she was too great for that she was of arc and when that is said all is said as a soldier her record was she could not be called to account for anything under that head a must be found and as we have seen was found she must be tried by priests for crimes against religion if none could be discovered some must be invented let the alone to contrive those was chosen as the scene of the trial it was in the heart of the english power its population had been under english dominion so many generations that they were hardly french now save in language the place was strongly was taken there near the end of december and flung into a yes and clothed in chains that free spirit still france made no move how do i account for this i think there is only one way you will remember that whenever was not at the front the french held back and ventured nothing that whenever she led they swept everything before by of arc them so long as they could see her white or her banner that every time she fell wounded or was reported killed as at they broke in panic and fled like sheep i argue from this that they had undergone no real as yet that at bottom they were still under the spell of a born of generations of and a lack of confidence in each other and in their leaders born of old and bitter experience in the way of of all sorts for their kings had been treacherous to their great and to their and these in turn were treacherous to the head of the state and to each other the found that they could depend utterly on and upon her alone with her gone everything was gone she was the sun that melted the frozen torrents and set them boiling with that sun removed they again and the army and all france became what they had been before mere dead that and nothing more incapable of thought hope ambition or motion by chapter my wound gave me a great deal of trouble deaf into the first part of october then the weather renewed my life and strength all this time there were reports drifting about that the king was going to i believed these for i was young and had not yet found out the and meanness of our poor human race which about itself so much and thinks it is better and higher	34
than the other animals in october i was well enough to go out with two and in the second one on the d i was wounded again my luck had turned you see on the night of the the and in the disorder and confusion one of their prisoners escaped and got safe into and into my room as pallid and pathetic an object as you would wish to see what alive it was indeed he it was a most joyful meeting that you will easily know and also as sad as it was joyful we could not speak s name one s voice would have broken down we knew who waa by of are meant when she was mentioned we could say she and her but we could not speak the name we talked of the personal staff old d wounded and a prisoner was still with and serving her by permission of the duke of was being treated with the respect due to her rank and to her character as a prisoner of war taken in honorable conflict and this was continued as we learned later until she fell into the hands of that of satan bishop of was full of noble and affectionate praises and of our old big standard bearer now gone silent forever his real and imaginary battles all fought his work done his life closed and completed and think of his luck burst out with his eyes full of tears always the pet of luck see how it followed him and stayed by him from his first step all through in the field or out of it always a splendid figure in the public eye and envied everywhere always having a chance to do fine things and always doing them in the beginning called the in joke and called it afterward in earnest because he made the title good and at last luck of all died in the field died with his harness on died faithful to his charge the standard in his hand think of it with the eye of by of arc of arc upon him he drained the cup of glory to the last drop and went to his peace spared all part in the disaster which was to follow what luck what luck and we what was our sin that we are still here we who have also earned our place with the happy dead and presently he said they tore the sacred standard from his dead hand and carried it away their most precious prize after its captured owner but they haven t it now a month ago we put our lives upon the risk our two good knights my fellow prisoners and i and stole it and got it by hands to and there it is now safe for all time in the treasury i was glad and grateful to learn that i have seen it often since when i have gone to on the th of may to be the old guest of the city and hold the first place of honor at the and in the i mean since s brothers passed from this life it will still be there guarded by french love a thousand years from now yes as long as any of it hangs together it remained there three hundred and sixty years and then was destroyed in a public together with two swords a cap several suits of state apparel and other relics of the maid by a mob in the time of the revolution nothing which the hand of of arc is known to have touched now remains in existence except a few papers which she signed her pen being guided by a or her secretary louis de a exists by of arc two or three weeks after this talk came the news like a thunder and we were aghast of arc sold to the english not for a moment had we ever dreamed of such a thing we were young you see and did not know the human race as i have said before we had been so proud of our country so sure of her her her gratitude we had expected little of the king but of france we had expected everything everybody knew that in various towns priests had been marching in procession urging the people to sacrifice money property everything and buy the freedom of their heaven sent that the money would be raised we had not thought of doubting but it was all over now all over it was a bitter time for us the heavens seemed hung with black all cheer went out from our hearts was this comrade here at my bedside really that light hearted creature whose whole life was but one long joke and who used up more breath in laughter than in keeping his body alive no no that i was to see no more this one s heart was broken he moved about and which she is known to have mounted her horse when she was once setting out upon a campaign up to a quarter of a century ago there was a single hair from her head still in existence it was drawn through the wax of a seal attached to the of a state document it was out seal and all by some hunter and carried off doubtless it still exists but only the thief knows where by of arc like one in a dream the stream of his laughter was dried at its source well that was best it was my own mood we were company for each other he nursed me patiently through the dull long weeks and at last in january i was strong enough to go about again then he shall we go now yes there was no need to explain our	34
hearts were in we would carry our bodies there all that we cared for in this life was shut up in that fortress we could not help her but it would be some solace to us to be near her to breathe the air that she breathed and look daily upon the stone walls that hid her what if we should be made prisoners there well we could but do our best and let luck and fate decide what should happen and so we started we could not realize the change which had come upon the country we seemed able to choose our own route and go wherever we pleased and when of arc was in the field there was a sort of panic of fear everywhere but now that she was out of the way fear had vanished nobody was troubled about you or afraid of you nobody was curious about you or your business everybody was indifferent we presently saw that we could take to the and not weary ourselves out with land travel so by of arc we did it and were carried in a boat to within a league of then we got ashore not on the side but on the other where it is as level as a floor nobody could enter or leave the city without explaining himself it was because they feared attempts at a rescue of we had no trouble we stopped in the plain with a family of and stayed a week helping them with their work for board and lodging and making friends of them we got clothes like theirs and wore them when we had worked our way through their and gotten their confidence we found that they secretly french hearts in their bodies then we came out frankly and told them everything and found them ready to do anything they could to help us our plan was soon made and was quite simple it was to help them drive a flock of sheep to the market of the city one morning early we made the venture in a melancholy of rain and passed through the frowning gates our friends had friends living over a humble wine shop in a quaint tall building situated in one of the narrow lanes that run down from the cathedral to the river and with these they bestowed us and the next day they our own proper clothing and other to us the family that lodged us the were french in sympathy and we needed to have no secrets from them by chapter iii it was necessary for me to have some way to bread for and myself and when the found that i knew how to write they applied to their in my behalf and he got a place for me with a good priest named who was to be the chief in the great trial of of arc now approaching it was a strange position for me clerk to the and dangerous if my sympathies and late employment should be found out but there was not much danger was at bottom friendly to and would not betray me and my name would not for i had discarded my and retained only my given one like a person of low degree i attended constantly straight out of january and into february and was often in the with him in the very fortress where was imprisoned though not in the where she was confined and so did not see her of course told me everything that had been happening before my coming ever since the purchase of had been busy packing his x by of arc jury for the destruction of the maid weeks and weeks he had spent in this bad industry the university of paris had sent him a number of learned and able and of the he wanted and he had scraped together a clergyman of like and great fame here and there and yonder until he was able to a formidable court half a hundred distinguished names french names they were but their interests and sympathies were english a great officer of the was also sent from paris for the accused must be tried by the forms of the but this was a brave and righteous man and he said that this court had no power to try the case wherefore he refused to act and the same honest talk was uttered by two or three others the was right the case as here against had already been tried long ago at and decided in her favor yes and by a higher than this one for at the head of it was an he of s own so here you see a lower court was preparing to re try and re decide a cause which had already been decided by its superior a court of higher authority imagine it no the case could not properly be tried again could not properly in this new court for more than one reason was not in his q h d pot been ted in her by of arc which was still and finally this proposed judge was the prisoner s enemy and therefore he was to try her yet all these large difficulties were gotten rid of the chapter of finally granted letters to though only after a struggle and under force was also applied to the and he was obliged to submit so then the little english king by his representative formally delivered into the hands of the court but with this if the court failed to condemn her he was to have her back again ah dear what chance was there for that forsaken and child indeed it is the right word for she was in a black with half a dozen brutal common soldiers keeping guard night and day in the room where her cage was for	34
she was in a cage an iron cage and chained to her bed by neck and hands and feet never a person near her whom she had ever seen before never a woman at yes this was indeed now it was a of de who captured at and it was who sold her to the duke of yet this very de was enough to go and show his face to in her cage he came with two english and he was a poor he told her he would get her set by of arc free if she would promise not to fight the english any more she had been in that cage a long time now but not long enough to break her spirit she retorted scornfully name of god you but mock me i know that you have neither the power nor the will to do it he insisted then the pride and dignity of the soldier rose in and she lifted her chained hands and let them fall with a clash saying see these i they know more than you and can better i know that the english are going to kill me for they think that when i am dead they can get the kingdom of france it is not so though there were a hundred thousand of them they would never get it this defiance and he now think of it he a free strong man she a chained and helpless girl he drew his dagger and flung himself at her to her but seized him and held him back was wise take her life in that way send her to heaven and it would make her the idol of france and the whole nation would rise and march to victory and under the inspiration of her spirit no she must be saved for another fate than that well the time was approaching for the great trial for more than two months had been and everywhere for any odds and ends of evidence or suspicion or conjecture that by of arc might be made against and carefully all evidence that came to hand in her favor he had ways and means and powers at his disposal for preparing and the case for the and he used them all but had no one to prepare her case for her and she was shut up in those stone walls and had no friend to appeal to for help and as for witnesses she could not call a single one in her they were all far away under the french flag and this was an english court they would have been seized and hanged if they had shown their faces at the gates of no the prisoner must be the sou witness witness for the witness for the and with a verdict of death resolved upon before the doors were opened for the court s first sitting when she learned that the court was made up of in the interest of the english she begged that in an equal number of priests of the french party should be added to these at her message and would not even to answer it by the law of the church she being a minor under twenty one it was her right to have counsel to conduct her case advise her how to answer when questioned and protect her from falling into set by cunning devices of the she probably did not know that this was her right and th t she could nd it and require it for there by of arc was none to tell her that but she begged for this help at any rate refused it she urged and implored pleading her youth and her ignorance of the and of the law and of legal refused again and said she must get along with her case as best she might by herself ah his heart was a stone prepared the verbal i will that by calling it the bill of particulars it was a detailed list of the charges against her and formed the basis of the trial charges it was a list of suspicions and public those were the words used it was merely charged that she was suspected of having been guilty of and other such against religion now by law of the church a trial of that sort could not be begun until a searching inquiry had been made into the history and character of the accused and it was essential that the result of this inquiry be added to the verbal and form a part of it you remember that that was the first thing they did before the trial at they did it again now an was sent to there and all about the neighborhood he made an search into s history and character and came back with his verdict it was very clear the reported that he found s character to be in what he would like his own sister s character to be just about the s me report that was brought back to by of arc you see s was a character which could endure the examination this verdict was a strong point for you will say yes it would have been if it could have seen the light but was awake and it disappeared from the verbal before the trial people were prudent enough not to inquire what became of it one would imagine that was ready to begin the trial by this time but no he devised one more scheme for poor s destruction and it promised to be a deadly one one of the great personages picked out and sent down by the university of was an named he was tall handsome grave of smooth soft speech and courteous and winning manners there was no seeming of treachery or about him yet he was full of both	34
he was admitted to s prison by night disguised as a he pretended to be from her own country he professed to be secretly a he revealed the fact that he was a priest she was filled with gladness to see one from the hills and plains that were so dear to her happier still to look upon a priest and her heart in confession for the offices of the church were the bread of life the breath of her nostrils to her and she had been long forced to pine for them in vain she opened her whole innocent heart to this creature and in return he gave her advice concerning her trial which by of arc could have destroyed her if her deep native wisdom had not protected her against following it you will ask what value could this scheme have since the secrets of the are sacred and cannot be revealed true but suppose another person should them that person is not bound to keep the secret well that is what happened had previously caused a hole to be bored through the wall and he stood with his ear to that hole and heard all it is pitiful to think of these things one wonders how they could treat that poor child so she had not done them any by chapter iv on tuesday the th of february while i sat at my master s work in the evening he came in looking sad and said it had been decided to begin the trial at eight o clock the next morning and i must get ready to assist him of course i had been expecting such news every day for many days but no matter the shock of it almost took my breath away and set me trembling like a leaf i suppose that without knowing it i had been half imagining that at the last moment something would happen something that would stop this fatal trial maybe that la hire would burst in at the gates with his at his back maybe that god would have pity and stretch forth his mighty hand but now now there was no hope the trial was to begin in the chapel of the fortress and would be public so i went away and told so that he might be there early and secure a place it would give him a chance to look again upon the face which we so and which was so precious to us all the way both going and coming i through chattering and f by ox arc multitudes of english and english hearted french citizens there was no talk but of the coming event many times i heard the remark accompanied by a pitiless laugh the fat bishop has got things as he wants them at last and says he will lead the vile witch a merry dance and a short one but here and there i compassion and distress in a face and it was not always a french one english soldiers feared but they admired her for her great deeds and her spirit in the morning and i went early yet as we approached the vast fortress we found crowds of men already there and still others gathering the chapel was already full and the way barred against further of persons we took our appointed places on high sat the president bishop of in his grand robes and before him in rows sat his court fifty distinguished men of high degree in the church of clear cut intellectual faces men of deep learning in and of traps for ignorant minds and feet when i looked around upon this army of masters of legal fence gathered here to find just one verdict and no other and remembered that must fight for her good name and her life single handed against them i asked myself what chance an ignorant poor country girl by of arc of nineteen could have in such an unequal conflict and my heart sank down low very low when i looked again at that president puffing and there his great belly and receding with each breath and noted his three fold above fold and his and face and his purple and complexion and his repulsive nose and his cold and malignant eyes a brute every detail of him my heart sank lower still and when i noted that all were afraid of this man and shrank and in their seats when his eye smote theirs my last poor ray of hope dissolved away and wholly disappeared there was one seat in this place and only one it was over against the wall in view of every one it was a little wooden bench without a back and it stood apart and solitary on a sort of tall men at arms in and steel stood as stiff as their own on each side of this but no other creature was near by it a pathetic little bench to me it was for i knew whom it was for and the sight of it carried my mind back to the great court at where sat upon one like it and calmly fought her cunning fight with the astonished doctors of the church and parliament and rose from it victorious and applauded by all and went forth to fill the world with the glory of her name what a dainty little figure she was and how gentle and innocent how winning and beautiful in the fresh by of are bloom of her seventeen years those were grand days and so recent for she was but just nine now and how much she had seen since and what wonders she had accomplished but now oh all was changed now she had been in away from light and air and the cheer of friendly faces for nearly of a year she born child of the sun	34
natural comrade of the birds and of all happy free creatures she would be weary now and worn with this long her forces perhaps as knowing there was no hope yes all was changed all this time there had been a muffled hum of conversation and rustling of robes and of feet on the floor a combination of dull noises which filled all the place suddenly produce the accused i it made me catch my breath my heart began to like a hammer but there was silence now silence absolute all those noises ceased and it was as if they had never been not a sound the stillness grew oppressive it was like a weight upon one all faces were turned toward the door and one could properly expect that for most of the people there suddenly realized no doubt that they were about to see in actual flesh and blood what had been to them before only an embodied a word a phrase a world name the stillness continued then far down the by of arc stone paved one heard a vague slow sound approaching of arc of france in chains my head swam all things whirled and spun about me ah was too by chapter v i give you my honor now that i am not going to or the facts of this miserable trial no i will give them to you honestly detail by detail just as and i set them down daily in the official record of the court and just as one may read them in the printed histories there will be only this difference that in talking familiarly with you i shall use my right to comment upon the proceedings and explain them as i go along so that you can understand them better also i shall throw in trifles which came under our eyes and have a certain interest for you and me but were not important enough to go into the official record to take up my story now where i left off we heard the of s chains down the she was approaching presently she appeared a thrill swept the house and one heard deep drawn two followed her at a short distance to the rear her he kept his word his account of the great trial will be found to be in strict and detailed accordance with the sworn facts of history i by of arc s head was bowed a little and she moved slowly she being weak her irons heavy she had on men s attire all black a soft stuff intensely black black not a speck of color in it from her throat to the floor a wide collar of this same black stuff lay in folds upon her shoulders and breast the sleeves of her were full down to the elbows and tight thence to her wrists below the tight black down to the chains on her ankles half way to her bench she stopped just where a wide shaft of light fell from a window and slowly lifted her face another thrill it was totally white as snow a face of gleaming snow set in vivid contrast upon that statue of black it was smooth and pure and girlish beautiful beyond belief infinitely sad and sweet but dear dear when the challenge of those eyes fell upon that judge and the vanished from her form and it straightened up and noble my heart leaped for joy and i said all is well all is well they have not broken her they have not conquered her she is of arc still yes it was plain to me now that there was one spirit there which this dreaded judge could not nor make afraid she moved to her place and mounted the and seated herself upon her bench gathering her chains into her lap and her little white hands there then she waited in tranquil dignity the only person by of arc there who seemed unmoved and a and english soldier standing at martial ease in the front rank of the citizen spectators did now most gallantly and respectfully put up his great hand and give her the military salute and she smiling friendly put up hers and returned it there was a sympathetic little break of applause which the judge sternly silenced now the memorable called in history the great trial began fifty against a and no one to help the the judge the circumstances of the case and the public reports and suspicions upon which it was based then he required to kneel and make oath that she would answer with exact to all questions asked her s mind was not asleep it suspected that dangerous possibilities might lie hidden under this apparently fair and reasonable demand she with the simplicity which so often spoiled the enemy s best laid plans in the trial at and said no for i do not know what you are going to ask me you might ask of me things which i would not tell you this the court and brought out a brisk of angry exclamations was not disturbed raised his voice and began to speak in the midst of this noise but he was so angry that he could hardly get his words out he said r by of arc with the divine assistance of our lord we require you to these proceedings for the welfare of your conscience swear with your hands upon the that you will answer true to the questions which hall be asked you and he brought down his fat hand with a crash upon his official table said with composure as concerning my father and mother and the faith and what things i have done since my coming into france i will gladly answer but as regards the revelations which i have received from god my voices have forbidden me to confide them to	34
any save my here there was another angry outburst of threats and and much movement and confusion so she had to stop and wait for the noise to then her face flushed a little and she straightened up and fixed her eye on the judge and finished her sentence in a voice that had the old ring in it and i will never reveal these things though you cut my head off well maybe you know what a body of is like the judge and half the court were on their feet in a moment and all shaking their fists at the prisoner and all and at once so that you could hardly hear yourself think they kept this up several minutes and because s t and indifferent they by of arc grew and all the time once she with a fleeting trace of the old time mischief in her eye and manner speak one at a time fair lords then i will answer all of you at the end of three whole hours of furious over the oath the situation had not changed a the bishop was still requiring an oath was refusing for the twentieth time to take any except the one which she had herself proposed there was a physical change apparent but it was confined to court and judge they were hoarse exhausted by their long frenzy and had a sort of haggard look in their faces poor men whereas was still placid and and did not seem tired the noise down there was a waiting pause of some moments duration then the judge surrendered to the prisoner and with bitterness in his voice told her to take the oath after her own fashion sunk at once to her knees and as she laid her hands upon the that big english soldier set free his mind by god if she were but english she were not in this place another half a second it was the soldier in him to the soldier in her but what a rebuke it was what an of french character and french would that he could have uttered just that one iq the hearing of ns j know that that by h x h h o o by by of arc grateful city that city would have risen to the last and the last woman and marched upon some speeches speeches that shame a man and humble him burn themselves into the memory and remain there that one is burned into mine after had made oath asked her her name and where she was born and some questions about her family also what her age was she answered these then he asked her how much education she had i have learned from my mother the the ave maria and the belief all that i know was taught me by my mother questions of this sort on for a considerable time everybody was tired out by now except the prepared to rise at this point forbade to try to escape from prison upon pain of being held guilty of the crime of singular logic she answered simply i am not bound by this if i could escape i would not reproach myself for i have given no promise and i shall not then she complained of the burden of her chains and asked that they might be removed for she was strongly guarded in that and there was no need of them but the bishop refused and reminded her that she had broken out of prison twice before of arc was too proud to insist she only said as she rose to go with the guard by i of it is true i have wanted to escape and i do want to escape then she added in a way that would touch the pity of anybody i think it is the right of every prisoner and so she went from the place in the midst of an impressive stillness which made the and more to me the of those pathetic chains what presence of mind she had one could never surprise her out of it she saw and me there when she first took her seat on her bench and we flushed to the forehead with excitement and emotion but her face showed nothing betrayed nothing her eyes sought us fifty times that day but they passed on and there was never any ray of recognition in them another would have started upon seeing us and then why then there could have been trouble for us of course we walked slowly home together each busy witb his own grief and saying not a word by chapter vl that night told me that all through the day s proceedings had had some clerks concealed in the of a window who were to make a special report s answers and twisting them from their right meaning ah that was surely the man and the most that has lived in this world but his scheme failed those clerks had human hearts in them and their base work them and they turned to and boldly made a straight report whereupon cursed them and ordered them out of his presence with a threat of drowning which was his favorite and most frequent menace the matter had gotten abroad and was making great and unpleasant talk and would not try to repeat this shabby game right away it comforted me to hear that when we arrived at the next morning we found that a change had been made the chapel had been found too small the court had now removed to a noble chamber situated at the end of the great hall of the castle the number of judges was i by of arc increased to sixty two one ignorant girl against such odds and none to help her the prisoner was brought in	34
god to help me to live well i was frightened it came at mid day in my father s garden in the summer had you been yes the day before no from what direction did it come from the right from toward the church did it come with a bright light oh indeed yes it was brilliant when i came into france i often heard the voices very loud what did the voice sound like it was a noble voice and i thought it was sent to me from god the third time i heard it i recognized it as being an angel s you could understand it quite easily it was always clear what advice did it give you as to the salvation of your soul it told me to live rightly and be regular in attendance upon the services of the church and it told me that i must go to france by of arc in what species of form did the voice appear looked suspiciously at the priest a moment then said as to that i will not tell you did the voice seek you often yes twice or three times a week saying l ave your village and go to france did your father know about your departure no the voice said go to france therefore i could not abide at home any longer what else did it say that i should raise the siege of was that all no i was to go to and robert de would give me soldiers to go with me to france and i answered saying that i was a poor girl who did not know how to ride neither how to fight then she told how she was and interrupted at but finally got her soldiers and began her march how were you dressed the court of had distinctly decided and that as god had appointed her to do a man s work it was meet and no scandal to religion that she should dress as a man but no matter this court was ready to use any and all weapons against even broken and ones and much was going to be made of thi before thi j should end by s of i wore a man s dress also a sword which de gave me but no other weapon who was it that advised you to wear the dress of a man was suspicious again she would not answer the question was repeated she refused again answer it is a command was all she said so gave up the matter for the present what did say to you when you left he made them that were to go with me promise to take charge of me and to me he said go and let happen what may after a good deal of questioning upon other matters she was asked again about her attire she said it was necessary for her to dress as a man did your voice advise it merely answered placidly i believe my voice gave me good advice it was all that could be got out of her so the questions wandered to other matters and finally to her first meeting with the king at she said she chose out the king who was unknown to her by the revelation of her voices all that happened at that time was gone over finally do you still hear those voices they come to me every day what do you ask of them by of arc i have never asked of them any but the salvation of my soul did the voice always urge you to follow the army he is creeping upon her again she answered it required me to remain behind at st i would have obeyed if i had been free but i was helpless by my wound and the knights carried me away by force when were you wounded i was wounded in the moat before paris in the assault the next question what had been leading up to was it a feast day you see the suggestion is that a voice coming from god would hardly advise or permit the by war and of a sacred day was troubled a moment then she answered yes it was a feast day now then tell me this did you hold it right to make the attack on such a day this was a shot which might make the first breach in a wall which had suffered no damage thus far there was immediate silence in the court and intense noticeable all about but disappointed the house she merely made a slight little motion with her hand as when one away a fly and said with indifference by of arc smiles danced for a moment in some of the stem est faces there and several even laughed outright the trap had been long and laboriously prepared it fell and was empty the court rose it had sat for hours and was cruelly fatigued most of the time had been taken up with apparently idle and inquiries about the events the duke of s first and so on but all this seemingly random stuff had really been sown thick with hidden traps but had fortunately escaped them all some by the protecting luck which upon ignorance and innocence some by happy accident the others by force of her best and the clear vision and lightning of her extraordinary mind now then this daily and of this girl a captive in chains was to continue a long long time dignified sport a of and a	34
and i may as well tell you upon sworn testimony what it was like from the first day to the last when poor had been in her grave a quarter of a century the pope called together that great court which was to re examine her history and whose just verdict cleared her illustrious name from every spot and stain and laid upon the verdict and conduct of our the of its everlasting and several of the judges who had been members of our court were among the by of arc witnesses who appeared before that of recalling these miserable proceedings which i have been telling you about thus here you have it all in fair print in the official history when spoke of her she was interrupted at every word they wearied her with long and multiplied upon all sorts of things almost eveiy day the of the morning lasted three or four hours then from these morning inter they extracted the particularly difficult and subtle points and these served as material for the afternoon which lasted two or three hours moment by moment they from one subject to another yet in spite of this she always responded with an astonish ing wisdom and memory she often corrected the judges saying but i have already answered that once ask the referring them to me and here is the testimony of one of s judges remember these witnesses are not talking about two or three days they are talking about a tedious procession of days they asked her profound questions but she herself quite well sometimes the changed suddenly and passed to another subject to see if she would not contradict herself they her with long of two or three hours from which s themselves went forth fatigued the with which she was beset ih man in the world could not have himself but with difficulty she gave her with great prudence indeed to such a degree that during three i believed she was inspired ah had she a mind such as i have described you see what these priests say under oath picked men men chosen for their places in that terrible court on account of their learning their experience by of arc their keen and and their strong bias against the prisoner they make that poor young country girl out the match and more than the match of the sixty two trained isn t it so they from the university of paris she from the and the cow stable ah yes she was great she was wonderful it took six thousand years to produce her her like will not be seen in the earth again in fifty thousand such is opinion by chapter re third meeting of the court was in that same spacious chamber next day th of february how did it begin work in just the same old way when the preparations were ended the sixty two in their chairs and the guards and order distributed to their stations spoke from his throne and commanded to lay her hands upon the and swear to tell the truth concerning everything asked her i s eyes kindled and she rose rose and stood fine and noble and faced toward the bishop and said take care what you do my lord you who are my judge for you take a terrible responsibility on yourself and you presume too far it made a great stir and burst out upon her with an awful threat the threat of instant condemnation unless she obeyed that made the very bones in my body turn cold and i saw cheeks about me for it meant fire and the stake but still standing answered him back proud and by of not all the clergy in paris and could con me lacking the right this made a great tumult and part of it was from the spectators resumed her seat the bishop still insisted said i have already made oath it is enough the bishop shouted in refusing to swear you place yourself under suspicion let be i have sworn already it is enough the bishop continued to insist answered that she would tell what she knew but not all that she knew the bishop her straight along till at last she said in a weary tone i came from god i have nothing more to do here return me to god from whom i came it was piteous to hear it was the same as saying you only want my life take it and let me be at peace the bishop out again once more i command you to cut in with a and retired from the struggle but he retired with some credit this time for he offered a compromise and always clear headed saw protection for herself in it and promptly and willingly accepted it she was to swear to tell the truth as touching the matters set down in the verbal they could not sail her outside of definite limits now by of arc her course was over a sea henceforth the bishop had granted more than he had intended and more than he would honestly try to abide by by command resumed his examination of the accused it being lent there might be a chance to catch her some detail of her religious duties i could have told him he would fail there why religion was her life since when have you eaten or drunk if the least thing had passed her lips in the nature of neither her youth nor the fact that she was being half starved in her prison could save her from dangerous suspicion of contempt for the of the church i have done neither since yesterday at noon the priest shifted to the voices again when have you heard your voice yesterday and to	34
well as she could and answered everything then the priest finished by touching again upon the matter of her apparel a matter which was never to be lost sight of in this stiu hunt for this innocent creature s life but kept always hanging over her a menace charged with mournful possibilities would you like a woman s dress indeed yes if i may go out from this prison but here no by chapter court met next on monday the th would you believe it the bishop ignored the contract the examination to matters set down in the verbal and ag in commanded to take the oath without she said you should be content i have sworn enough she stood her ground and had to yield the examination was resumed concerning s voices you have said that you recognized them as being the voices of angels the third time that you heard them what angels were they st and st how did you know that it was those two saints how could you tell the one from the other i know it was they and i know how to distinguish them by what sign by their manner of me i have been these seven years under their direction and i knew who they were because they told me whose was the first voice that came to you when you were thirteen years old o by of arc it was the voice of st michael i saw him before my eyes and he was not alone but attended by a cloud of angels did you see the and the attendant angels in the body or in the spirit i saw them with the eyes of my body just as i see you and when they went away i cried because they did not take me with them it made me see that awful shadow again that fell dazzling white upon her that day under de and it made me shiver again though it was so long ago it was really not very long gone by but it seemed so because so much had happened since in what shape and form did st michael appear as to that i have not received permission to speak what did the say to you that first time i cannot answer to day meaning i think that she would have to get permission of her voices first presently after some more questions as to the revelations which had been conveyed through her to the king she complained of the of all this and said i will say again as i have said before many times in these that i answered all questions of this sort before the court at and i would by of arc that you would bring here the record of that court and read from that send for that book there was no answer it was a subject that had to be got around and put aside that book had wisely been gotten out of the way for it contained things which would be very awkward here among them was a decision that s mission was from god whereas it was the intention of this inferior court to show that it was from the devil also a decision permitting to wear male attire whereas it was the purpose of this court to make the male attire do work against her how was it that you were moved to come into france by your own desire yes and by command of god but that it was his will i would not have come i would sooner have had my body torn in by horses than come lacking that shifted once more to the matter of the male attire now and proceeded to make a solemn talk about it that tried s patience and presently she interrupted and said it is a trifling thing and of no consequence and i did not put it on by counsel of any man but by command of god robert de did not order you to wear it no do you think you did well in taking the dress of a man by of arc i did well to do whatsoever thing god commanded me to do but in this particular case do you think you did well in taking the dress of a man i have done nothing but by command of god made various attempts to lead her into of herself also to put her words and acts in with the but it was lost time he did not succeed he returned to her visions the light which shone about them her relations with the king and so on was there an angel above the king s head the first time you saw him by the blessed mary she forced her impatience down and finished her sentence with tranquillity if there was one i did not see it was there light there were more than three hundred soldiers there and five hundred without taking account of spiritual light what made the king believe in the revelations which you brought him he had signs also the counsel of the clergy what revelations were made to the king you will not get that out of this year presently she added during three weeks i was questioned by the clergy at and the king had a sign before he would believe and by of arc the clergy were of my were good and not evil the subject was dropped now for a while and took up the matter of the miraculous sword of to see if he could not find a chance there to fix the crime of upon how did you know that there was	34
an ancient sword buried in the ground under the rear of the altar of the church of st of had no to make as to this i knew the sword was there because my voices told me so and i sent to ask that it be given to me to carry in the wars it seemed to me that it was not very deep in the ground the clergy of the church caused it to be sought for and dug up and they polished it and the fell easily off from it were you wearing it when you were taken in battle at no but i wore it constantly until i left st after the attack upon paris this sword so mysteriously discovered and so long and so constantly victorious was suspected of being under the protection of enchantment was that sword what blessing had been upon it none i loved it because it was found in the church of st for i loved that church very dearly she loved it because it had been built in honor of one of her angels by of arc didn t you lay it upon the altar to the end that it might be lucky the altar of st no didn t you pray that it might be made lucky truly it were no harm to wish that my harness might be fortunate then it was not that sword which you wore in the field of what sword did you wear there the sword of the d whom i took prisoner in the engagement at i kept it because it was a good war sword good to lay on stout and blows with she said that quite simply and the contrast between her delicate little self and the grim which she dropped with such easy familiarity from her lips made many spectators smile what is become of the other sword where is it now is that in tf races verbal did not answer which do you love best your banner or your sword her eye lighted gladly at the mention of her banner and she cried out i love my banner best oh forty times more than the sword sometimes i carried it myself when i charged the enemy to avoid killing anyone then she added and again that curious contrast between her girlish little per by of arc and her subject i have never killed anyone it made a great many smile and no wonder when you consider what a gentle and innocent little thing she looked one could hardly believe she had ever even seen men she looked so little fitted for such things in the final assault at did you tell your soldiers that the arrows shot by the enemy and the stones discharged from their and cannon would not strike any one but you no and the proof is that more than a hundred of my men were struck i told them to have no doubts and no fears that they would raise the siege i was wounded in the neck by an arrow in the assault upon the that commanded the bridge but st comforted me and i was cured in fifteen days without having to quit the saddle and leave my work did you know that you were going to be wounded yes and i had told it to the king beforehand i had it from my voices when you took why did you not put its to i offered him leave to go out from the place with all his garrison and if he would not i would take it by storm and you did i believe yes by of arc had your voices you to take it by storm as to that i do not remember thus closed a weary long sitting without result every device that could be contrived to trap into wrong thinking wrong doing or to the church or as a little child at home or later had been tried and none of them had she had come through the ordeal was the court discouraged no naturally it was very much surprised very much astonished to find its work and difficult instead of simple and easy but it had powerful in the shape of hunger cold fatigue persecution deception and treachery and opposed to this array nothing but a and ignorant girl who must some time or other surrender to bodily and mental exhaustion or get caught in one of the thousand traps set for her and had the court made no progress during these seemingly yes it had been feeling its way groping here groping there and had found one or two vague which might by and by and lead to something the male attire for instance and the visions and voices of course no one doubted that she had seen supernatural beings and been spoken to and advised by them and of course no one doubted that by supernatural help miracles had been done by such as choosing out the king in a crowd when she had never seen by of arc him before and her discovery of the sword buried under the altar it would have been foolish to doubt these things for we all know that the air is full of devils and angels that are visible to in magic on the one hand and to the holy on the other but what many land perhaps most did doubt that s visions voices and miracles came from god it was hoped that in time they could be to have been of origin therefore as you see the court s persistent fashion of coming back to that subject every little while and around it and into it was not to pass the time it had a strictly business end in view by	34
chapter ix t he next sitting opened on thursday the first of march fifty eight judges present the others resting as usual was required to take an oath with out she showed no temper this time she considered herself well by the verbal compromise which was so anxious to and creep out of so she merely refused distinctly and decidedly and added in a spirit of and but as to matters set down in verbal i will freely tell the whole truth yes as freely and fully as if i were before the pope here was a chance we had two or three then only one of them could be the true pope of course everybody the question of which was the true pope and refrained from him it being clearly dangerous to go into particulars in this matter here was an opportunity to trick an girl into bringing herself into peril and the unfair judge lost no time in taking advantage of it i i in a indolent and absent ways by of arc which one do you consider to be the true pope the house took an attitude of deep attention and so waited to hear the answer and see the prey walk into the trap but when the answer came it covered the judge with confusion and you could see many people for asked in a voice and manner which almost deceived even me so innocent it seemed are there two one of the priests in that body and one of the best there spoke right out so that half the house heard him and said by god it was a master stroke as soon as the judge was better of his embarrassment he came back to the charge but was prudent and passed by s question is it true that you received a letter from the count of asking you which of the three he ought to obey yes and answered it copies of both letters were produced and read said that hers had not been quite strictly copied she said she had received the count s letter when she was just mounting her horse and added so in a word or two of reply i said i would try to answer him from paris or somewhere where i could be at rest she was asked again which pope she had the right one by of arc i was not able to instruct the count of as to which one he ought to obey then she added with a frank which sounded fresh and wholesome in that den of and but as for me i hold that we are bound to obey our lord the pope who is at rome the matter was dropped then they produced and read a copy of s first effort at her the english to retire from the siege of and france truly a great and fine production for an girl of seventeen do you acknowledge as your own the document which has just been read yes except that there are errors in it words which make me give myself too much importance i saw what was coming i was troubled and ashamed for instance i did not say deliver up to the maid i la i said deliver up to the king au ro and i did not call myself commander in chief de all those are words which my secretary or he me or forgot what i said she did not look at me when she said it she spared me that embarrassment i hadn t her at all and hadn t forgotten i changed her language purposely for she was commander in chief and entitled to call herself so and it was becoming and proper too and who was going to surrender anything to the king at that time a by of arc stick a if any was done it would be to the noble maid of already and formidable though she had not yet struck a blow ah there would have been a fine and disagreeable episode for me there if that pitiless court had discovered that the very of that piece of secretary to of arc was present and not only present but helping build the record and not only that but destined at a far distant day to testify against lies and into it by and deliver them over to eternal do you acknowledge that you dictated this i do have you repented of it do you it ah then she was indignant no not even these chains and she shook them not even these chains can chill the hopes that i uttered there and more she rose and stood a moment with a divine strange light in her face then her words burst forth as in a flood i warn you now that before seven years a disaster will the english oh many fold greater than the fall of and silence sit down and then soon after they will lose all france now consider these things the french armies no longer existed the french cause was standing by of arc still our king was standing still there was no hint that by and by the would come forward and take up the great work of of arc and finish it in face of all this made that prophecy made it with perfect confidence came true for within five years paris fell and our king marched into it flying the victor s flag so the first part of the prophecy was then fulfilled in fact almost the entire prophecy for with paris in our hands the of the rest of it was assured twenty years later all france was ours excepting a single town	34
now that will remind you of an earlier prophecy of s at the time that she wanted to take paris and could have done it with ease if our king had but consented she said that that was the golden time that with paris ours all france would be ours in six months but if this golden opportunity to recover france was wasted said she i give you twenty years to do it in she was right after paris fell in the rest of the work had to be done city by city castle by castle and it took twenty years to finish it yes it was the first day of march there in the court that she stood in the view of everybody and uttered that strange and incredible now and then in this world somebody s prophecy turns up correct but when you come to look into it by of arc there is sure to be considerable room for suspicion that the prophecy was made after the fact but here the matter is different there in that court s prophecy was set down in the official record at the hour and moment of its utterance years before the and there you may read it to this day twenty five years after s death the record was produced in the great court of the and under oath by and me and judges of our court confirmed the of the record in their testimony s startling utterance on that now so celebrated first of march stirred up a great turmoil and it was some time before it down again naturally everybody was troubled for a prophecy is a and awful thing whether one thinks it from hell or comes down from heaven all that these people felt sure of was that the inspiration back of it was genuine and they would have given their right hands to know the source of it at last the questions began again how do you know that those things are going to happen i know it by revelation and i know it as surely as i know that you sit here before me this sort of answer was not going to the spreading uneasiness therefore after some further the judge got the subject out of the way and took up one which he could enjoy more what language do your voices speak by of arc french st too verily why not she is on our side not on the english saints and angels who did not condescend to speak english a grave they could not be brought into court and punished for contempt but the could take silent note of s remark and remember it against her which they did it might be useful by and by do your saints and angels wear crowns rings to questions like this were profane and not worthy of serious notice she answered indifferently but the question brought to her mind another matter and she turned upon and said i had two rings they have been taken away from me during my you have one of it is the gift of my brother give it back to if not to me then i pray that it be given to the church the judges conceived the idea that maybe these rings were for the working of perhaps they could be made to do a damage where is the other ring the have it where did you get it my father and mother gave it to me describe it by of arc it is plain and simple and has and mary engraved upon it everybody could see that that was not a valuable to do devil s work with so that trail was not worth to make sure one of the judges asked if she had ever cured sick people by touching them with the ring she said no now as concerning the that were used to abide near by whereof there are many reports and traditions it is said that your surprised these creatures on a summer s night dancing under the tree called de is it not possible that your pretended saints and angels are but those is that in your t she made no other answer have you not conversed with st and st under that tree i do not know or by the fountain near the tree yes sometimes what promises did they make you none but such as they had god s warrant for but what promises did they make that is not in yet i will say this much they told me that the king would become master of his kingdom in spite of his enemies and what else there was a pause then she said humbly by of arc they promised to lead me to paradise if faces do really betray what is passing in men s minds a fear came upon many in that house at this time that maybe after all a chosen servant and herald of god was here being hunted to her death the interest deepened movements and ceased the stillness became almost painful have you noticed that almost from the beginning the nature of the questions asked showed that in some way or other the very often already knew his fact before he asked his question have you noticed that somehow or other the usually knew just how and where to search for s secrets that they really knew the bulk of her a fact not suspected by her and that they had no task before them but to trick her into exposing those secrets do you remember the the treacherous priest tool of do you remember that under the sacred seal of the	34

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.