e in her any more than the
loftier ecclesiastics of France believed in Bernadette of Lourdes,
who was of the spiritual lineage of Jeanne, nor than we should believe
to-day in a similar pretender. It seems unnecessary then to think of
dark plots hatched between these two dark priests against the white,
angelic apparition of the Maid.

What services Cauchon had done to recommend him to the favour of
Winchester we are not told, but he was so much in favour that the
Cardinal had recommended him to the Pope for the vacant archbishopric
of Rouen a few months before there was any immediate question of Jeanne.
The appointment was opposed by the clergy of Rouen, and the Pope had not
come to any decision as yet on the subject. But no doubt the ambition of
Cauchon made him very eager, with such a tempting prize before him, to
recommend himself to his English patron by every means in his power. And
he it was who undertook the office of negotiating the ransom of Jeanne
from the hands of Jean de Luxembourg. We doubt whether after all it
would be just even to call this a nefarious bargain. To the careless
seigneur it would probably be very much a matter of course. The ransom
offered--six thousand francs--was as good as if she had been a prince.
The ladies at home might be indignant, but what was their foolish fancy
for a high-flown girl in comparison with these substantial crowns in his
pocket; and to be free from the responsibility of guarding her would be
an advantage too. And if her own party did not stir on her behalf, why
should he? A most pertinent question. Cauchon, on the other hand, could
assure all objectors that no summary vengeance was to be taken on
the Maid. She was to be judged by the Church, and by the best men the
University could provide, and if she were found innocent, no doubt would
go free.

They must have been sanguine indeed who hoped for a triumphant acquittal
of Jeanne; but still it may have been hoped that a trial by her
countrymen would in every case be better for her than to languish in
prison or to be seized perhaps by the English on some after occasion,
and to perish by their hands. Let us therefore be fair to Cauchon, if
possible, up to the beginning of the _Proces_. He was no Frenchman,
but a Burgundian; his allegiance was to his Duke, not to the King of
England; but his natural sovereign did so, and many, very many men of
note and importance were equally base, and did not esteem it base at
all. Had t