k
Thee for this great grace!"

And so, without further battle or bloodshed, the English army
marched away from Orleans; and upon the next morning not a man of
the foe was left; and the citizens pouring out from the town,
destroyed, with acclamations of joy, those great bastilles, which
had so long sheltered the foe and threatened the safety of the
city.

It was a day ever to be remembered. The bells pealed ceaselessly,
the houses were decked with garlands, white banners or silken
pennons floated everywhere, the townsfolk arrayed themselves in
holiday garb, and poured out through the gates to wander at will
over the plain, so lately held by the English. Gladness and the
wonder of a great relief was stamped upon every face, and
constantly songs of triumph arose or thunders of applause, of which
the burden always was--THE MAID OF ORLEANS! THE MAID OF ORLEANS!

They would have kept her with them for ever, if it might so have
been. They talked wildly, yet earnestly, of building her a palace,
where she should live at ease all the rest of her days, the object
of universal admiration and homage.

But the Maid listened to such words, when repeated to her, with a
dreamy smile. Her wound required rest; and for two days she
consented to remain quiet in the house of the Treasurer, lying for
the most part upon a couch in a great cool chamber, with the little
Charlotte for her companion and playfellow. She sometimes rose and
showed herself at a window in answer to the tumultuous shoutings of
the crowd without; and she received with pleasure some great
baskets and bouquets of flowers which the wives and children of the
citizens had culled for her. But she gently put aside all
suggestions of rewards for herself, which some would fain have
bestowed upon the Deliverer, and which men of all ranks were but
too ready to claim and receive for service rendered.

"I have all that I want, myself--and more," she said; "if any would
offer gifts, let them be thank offerings to the Lord. Let the poor
receive alms, let Masses be sung for the souls of those killed in
the war; but for me--I want nothing but the love of the people of
France. I am come to do the will of my Lord. I ask only His
approving smile."

And all the while she was eagerly desirous to return to the King,
and urge upon him the need to repair instantly to Rheims, and there
receive his crown. To her he was not truly King till he had been
anointed as such. She knew that the b