“Will Jean and Pierre go with me?”
“No; they would refuse now, but presently they will come, and
with them they will bring my parents’ blessing, and likewise their
consent that I take up my mission. I shall be stronger,
then–stronger for that; for lack of it I am weak now.” She paused a
little while, and the tears gathered in her eyes; then she went on: “I
would say good-by to Little Mengette. Bring her outside the village
at dawn; she must go with me a little of the way–”
“And Haumette?”
She broke down and began to cry, saying:
“No, oh, no–she is too dear to me, I could not bear it, knowing I
should never look upon her face again.”
Next morning I brought Mengette, and we four walked along the
road in the cold dawn till the village was far behind; then the two
girls said their good-bys, clinging about each other’s neck, and
pouring out their grief in loving words and tears, a pitiful sight to
see. And Joan took one long look back upon the distant village,
and the Fairy Tree, and the oak forest, and the flowery plain, and
the river, as if she was trying to print these scenes on her memory
so that they would abide there always and not fade, for she knew
she would not see them any more in this life; then she turned, and
went from us, sobbing bitterly. It was her birthday and mine. She
was seventeen years old.
Chapter 2 The Governor Speeds Joan
After a few days, Laxart took Joan to Vaucouleurs, and found
lodging and guardianship for her with Catherine Royer, a
wheelwright’s wife, an honest and good woman. Joan went to mass
regularly, she helped do the housework, earning her keep in that
way, and if any wished to talke with her about her mission–and
many did–she talked freely, making no concealments regarding
the matter now. I was soon housed near by, and witnessed the
effects which followed. At once the tidings spread that a young girl
was come who was appointed of God to save France. The common
people flocked in crowds to look at her and speak with her, and
her fair young loveliness won the half of their belief, and her deep
earnestness and transparent sincerity won the other half. The
well-to-do remained away and scoffed, but that is their way.
Next, a prophecy of Merlin’s, more than eight hundred years old,
was called to mind, which said that in a far future time France
would be lost by a woman and restored by a woman. France was
now, for the first time, lost–and by a woman, Isabel of Bavaria,
her base Queen; doubtless this fair and pure young girl was
commissioned of Heaven to complete the prophecy.
This gave the growing interest a new and powerful impulse; the
excitement rose higher and higher, and hope and faith along with
it; and so from Vaucouleurs wave after wave of this inspiring
enthusiasm flowed out over the land, far and wide, invading all the
villages and refreshing and revivifying the perishing children of
France; and from these villages came people who wanted to see for
themselves, hear for themselves; and they did see and hear, and
believe. They filled the town; they more than filled it; inns and
lodgings were packed, and yet half of the inflow had to go without
shelter. And still they came, winter as it was, for when a man’s soul
is starving, what does he care for meat and roof so he can but get
that nobler hunger fed? Day after day, and still day after day the
great tide rose. Domremy was dazed, amazed, stupefied, and said
to itself, “Was this world-wonder in our familiar midst all these
years and we too dull to see it?” Jean and Pierre went out from the
village, stared at and envied like the great and fortunate of the
earth, and their progress to Vaucouleurs was like a triumph, all the
country-side flocking to see and salute the brothers of one with
whom angels had spoken face to face, and into whose hands by
command of God they had delivered the destinies of France.