strangement, were more near and audible than
amid the noise and tumult of war. They spoke to her often, sometimes
three times a day, as she afterwards said, in the unbroken quiet of
her prison. And though they no longer spoke of new enterprises and
victories, their words were full of consolation. But it was not long
that Jeanne's young and vigorous spirit could content itself with
inaction. She was no mystic; willingly giving herself over to dreams and
visions is more possible to the old than to the young. Her confidence
and hope for her good friends of Compiegne gave way before the continued
tale of their sufferings, and the inveterate siege which was driving
them to desperation. No doubt the worst news was told to Jeanne, and
twice over she made a desperate attempt to escape, in hope of being able
to succour them, but without any sanction, as she confesses, from her
spiritual instructors. At Beaulieu the attempt was simple enough: the
narrative seems to imply that the doorway, or some part of the wall of
her room, had been closed with laths or planks nailed across an opening:
and between these she succeeded in slipping, "as she was very slight,"
with the hope of locking the door to an adjoining guard-room upon the
men who had charge of her, and thus getting free. But alas! The porter
of the chateau, who had no business there, suddenly appeared in the
corridor, and she was discovered and taken back to her chamber. At
Beaurevoir, which was farther off, her attempt was a much more desperate
one, and indicates a despair and irritation of mind which had become
unbearable. At this place her own condition was much alleviated; the
castle was the residence of Jean de Luxembourg's wife and aunt, ladies
who visited Jeanne continually, and soon became interested and attached
to her; but as the master of the house was himself in the camp before
Compiegne, they had the advantage or disadvantage, as far as the
prisoner was concerned, of constant news, and Jeanne's trouble for her
friends grew daily.

She seems, indeed, after the assurance she had expressed at first,
to have fallen into great doubt and even carried on within herself a
despairing argument with her spiritual guides on this point, battling
with these saintly influences as in the depths of the troubled heart
many have done with the Creator Himself in similar circumstances. "How,"
she cried, "could God let them perish who had been so good and loyal to
their King?" St. Cat