Joan of Arc on this occasion may be said to have 'sulked,'
but she showed her usual common sense in what she did, and her leaving
the Court seems to have given the vacillating King a momentary feeling
of shame and remorse. Orders were issued that the Court should be
moved on the 29th of June.

The royal army which started on that day for Rheims numbered twelve
thousand men; but this force was greatly increased on its march. By
the side of the King rode the Maid of Orleans; on the other side of
the King, Alencon. The Counts of Clermont, of Vendome, and of
Boulogne--all princes of the blood--came next. Dunois, the Marechal de
Boussac (Saint-Severe), and Louis Admiral de Culan followed. And then,
in a crowd of knights and captains, rode the Seigneurs de Rais, de
Laval, de Loheac, de Chauvigny, La Hire, Xaintrailles, La Tremoille,
and many others.

Before the town of Auxerre a halt was called: it was still under the
influence of the English and Burgundians. A deputation waited upon
Charles, provisions were sent to the army, but the town was not
entered. Outside its fortifications the army rested three days, after
which it continued its march to Saint-Florentin, whose gates swung
open to the King; thence on to Brinon l'Archeveque, whence Charles
forwarded a messenger with a letter to his lieges at Rheims,
announcing his approach.

On the 4th of July the royal force had reached Saint-Fal, near Troyes.
Joan of Arc despatched a messenger summoning that place to open its
gates to the King; but Troyes was strongly garrisoned by a force of
half English half Burgundian soldiers, and these had sent for succour
to the English Regent, the Duke of Bedford. The army of the King
arrived before the gates of the town on the 4th of July; a sally was
made by the hostile garrison, but this was driven back. _Pour-parlers_
ensued. The King's heralds were informed by the garrison officers that
they had sworn to the Duke of Burgundy not to allow, without his
leave, any other troops to enter their gates. They went further, and
insulted the Maid of Orleans in gross terms, calling her a
'_cocquarde_'--whatever that ugly term may mean.

The situation was embarrassing. How could the town be taken without a
siege train and artillery? But to leave it in the rear, with its
strong garrison, would be madness. The King's men were in favour of
retiring and abandoning the expedition to Rheims. There happened to be
within the town of Troyes at this time a