uch will I tell. They did find a man who
had long desired the pretty Jeanne for his wife, and he did
forswear himself and vow that he had been betrothed to Jeanne with
her own free will and consent, and that now he claimed her as his
wife. Jeanne, whose courage is high, though she be so quiet and
modest in her daily life, did vehemently deny the charge, whereupon
the angry father and his friend, the claimant of her hand, did
bring it into the court, and the Maid had to defend herself there
from the accusation of broken faith. But by St. Michael and all his
angels!--how she did confound them all! She asked no help from
lawyers, though one did offer himself to her. She called no
witnesses herself; but she questioned the witnesses brought against
her, and also the man who would fain have become her lord, and out
of their own mouths did she convict them of lying and hypocrisy and
conspiracy, so that she was triumphantly acquitted, and her judges
called her a most wonderful child, and told her mother to be proud
of such a daughter!"

I saw a flush rise to Bertrand's cheek, a flush as of pride and
joy. And indeed, I myself rejoiced to hear the end of the tale; for
it did seem as though this maiden had been persecuted with rancour
and injustice, and that is a thing which no man can quietly endure
to hear or see.

"And how have they of Domremy behaved themselves to her since?" I
asked; and Bertrand listened eagerly for the answer.

"Oh, they have taken her to favour once more; her father has been
kind again; her mother ever loved Jeanne much, for her gentleness
and beauty and helpfulness at home. All the people love her, when
not stirred to mockery by such fine pretensions. If she will remain
quietly at home like a wise and discreet maiden, no one will long
remember against her her foolish words and dreams."

As we rode through the fields and woodlands towards Domremy, the
light began to take the golden hue which it does upon the autumn
afternoon, and upon that day it shone with a wonderful radiance
such as is not uncommon after rain. We were later than we had
meant, but there would be a moon to light us when the sun sank, and
both we and our horses knew the roads well; or we could even sleep,
if we were so minded, at the auberge where we had dined. So we were
in no haste or hurry. We picked our way leisurely towards the
village, and Bertrand told me of the Fairy Well and the Fairy Tree
in the forest hard by, so beloved o