was impossible, since
she feared nought that was holy or good, but clave unto such, and
was never so joyful and glad at heart as when she was able to
receive the Holy Sacrament, or kneel before the Altar of God whilst
Mass was being said.

She had proved her claim to be called God's messenger. She had
justified herself as such in the eyes of the King and in the
judgment of the two Queens and of half the Court. And yet,
forsooth, he must waver and doubt, and let himself be led by the
counsels of those who had ever set themselves against the Maid and
her mission; and to the shame of the Church be it spoken, the
Archbishop of Rheims was one of those who most zealously sought to
persuade him of the folly of entrusting great matters to the hands
of a simple peasant girl, and warned the whole Court of the perils
of witchcraft and sorcery which were like to be the undoing of all
who meddled therein.

I could have wrung the neck of the wily old fox, whom I did more
blame than I did his friend and advocate, De la Tremouille; for the
latter only professed carnal wisdom and prudence, but the
Archbishop spoke as one who has a mandate from God, and he at least
should have known better.

And so they must needs send her to Poictiers, to a gathering of
ecclesiastics, assembled by her enemy, the Archbishop himself, to
examine into her claims to be that which she professed, and also
into her past life, and what it had been.

I scarce have patience to write of all the wearisome weeks which
were wasted thus, whilst this assembly sat; and the Maid--all alone
in her innocence, her purity, her sweetness, and gentle
reverence--stood before them, day after day, to answer subtle
questions, face a casuistry which sought to entrap her into
contradiction or confusion, or to wring from her a confession that
she was no heaven-sent messenger, but was led away by her own
imaginations and ambitions.

It was an ordeal which made even her devoutest adherents tremble;
for we knew the astuteness of the churchmen, and how that they
would seek to win admissions which they would pervert to their own
uses afterwards. Yet we need not have feared; for the Maid's
simplicity and perfectly fearless faith in her mission carried her
triumphant through all; or perhaps, indeed, her voices whispered to
her what answers she should make, for some of them were remembered
long, and evoked great wonder in the hearts of those who heard
them.

One Dominican monk sou