ad before expressed to see
the maid, Jeanne of Domremy; and as the sun upon the morrow shone
out bright and clear, after a week of heavy rain storms, we agreed
that no better opportunity could we hope for to ride across to the
little village, and try whether it were possible to obtain speech
with the young girl about whom such interest had been aroused in
some breasts.

We spoke no word to De Baudricourt of our intention. Bertrand knew
from his manner that he was thinking more and more earnestly of
that declaration on the part of the village maiden that her
Lord--the King of Heaven--had revealed to her that she must be sent
to the Dauphin, to help him to drive out the English from his
country, and to place the crown of France upon his head, and that
he, Robert de Baudricourt, was the instrument who would be used to
speed her on her way. Bertrand knew that this thought was weighing
upon the mind of his kinsman, and the more so as the time for the
fulfilment of the prophecy drew nearer.

Autumn had come. Winter was hard at hand; and before Mid-Lent the
promised succour to France was to arrive through the means of this
maiden--this Jeanne d'Arc.

"He is waiting and watching," spoke Bertrand, as we rode through
the forest, the thinning leaves of which allowed the sunlight to
play merrily upon our path. "He says in his heart that if this
thing be of God, the Maid will come again when the time draws near;
but that if it is phantasy, or if she be deluded of the Devil,
perchance his backwardness will put a check upon her ardour, and we
shall hear no more of it. The Abbe Perigord, his Confessor, has
bidden him beware lest it be a snare of the Evil One"--and as he
spoke these words Bertrand crossed himself, and I did the like, for
the forest is an ill place in which to talk of the Devil, as all
men know.

"But for my part, when I think upon her words, and see again the
look of her young face, I cannot believe that she has been thus
deceived; albeit we are told that the Devil can make himself appear
as an angel of light."

This was the puzzle, of course. But surely the Church had power to
discern betwixt the wiles of the Evil One and the finger of God.
There were words and signs which any possessed of the Devil must
needs fly before. I could not think that the Church need fear
deception, even though a village maid might be deceived.

The forest was very beautiful that day, albeit travelling was
something slow, owing to t