n and their immediate
attendants, the Duc de Bar and the Comte de Clermont,(1) always a bird
of evil omen, riding hot from St. Denis with orders from the King.
These orders were abrupt and peremptory--to turn back. Jeanne and her
companions were struck dumb for the moment. To turn back, and Paris
at their feet! There must have burst forth a storm of remonstrance
and appeal. We cannot tell how long the indignant parley lasted; the
historians do not enlarge upon the disastrous incident. But at last
the generals yielded to the orders of the King--Jeanne humiliated,
miserable, and almost in despair. We cannot but feel that on no former
occasion would she have given way so completely; she would have rushed
to the King's presence, overwhelmed him with impetuous prayers, extorted
somehow the permission to go on. But Charles was safe at seven miles'
distance, and his envoys were imperious and peremptory, like men able to
enforce obedience if it were not given. She obeyed at last, recovering
courage a little in the hope of being able to persuade Charles to change
his mind, and sanction another assault on Paris from the other side, by
means of a bridge over the Seine towards St. Denis, which Alencon had
constructed. Next morning it appears that without even asking that
permission a portion of the army set out very early for this bridge: but
the King had divined their project, and when they reached the river
side the first thing they saw was their bridge in ruins. It had been
treacherously destroyed in the night, not by their enemies, but by their
King.

It is natural that the French historians should exhaust themselves in
explanation of this fatal change of policy. Quicherat, who was the
first to bring to light all the most important records of this period of
history, lays the entire blame upon La Tremoille, the chief adviser of
Charles. But that Charles himself was at heart equally guilty no one
can doubt. He was a man who proved himself in the end of his career to
possess both sense and energy, though tardily developed. It was to him
that Jeanne had given that private sign of the truth of her mission,
by which he was overawed and convinced in the first moment of their
intercourse. Within the few months which had elapsed since she appeared
at Chinon every thing that was wonderful had been done for him by her
means. He was then a fugitive pretender, not even very certain of his
own claim, driven into a corner of his lawful domini