It was not
until the 25th of July that Winchester at length arrived with his army
in Paris. Then Bedford breathed more freely, and left the capital with
an army of observation to watch the movements of the French King.

It was now the earnest wish of Joan of Arc that Charles should march
direct on Paris, and perhaps had he done so he might have entered
that city with as little difficulty as he had entered Rheims; for if
once the King of France had appeared in person, many of the wealthy
citizens, as well as the majority of the common people, would have
welcomed him. Charles, however, as usual vacillated, and the precious
moment slipped by.

Philip (called 'the Good'), Duke of Burgundy, was at this time one of
the most powerful princes of Christendom. In addition to his titular
domain, he held the wealthy provinces of Burgundy, including Brabant,
Flanders, Franche-Comte, Holland, Namur, Lower Lorraine, Luxembourg,
Artois, Hainault, Zealand, Friesland, Malines, and Salines. This
much-territoried potentate was at the present juncture coquetting both
with Bedford and with Charles, playing one against the other. To the
former he promised an army, but only contributed a handful of men; to
the latter he made advances of friendship, as false as the man who
made them.

Joan had despatched two letters of a conciliatory tone to the Duke of
Burgundy from Rheims. The original of one of these is to be seen in
the archives at Lille. Like most of Joan of Arc's letters, it
commences with the name of Jesus and Mary. As Joan could not write,
the only portion of this letter which bears the mark of her hand is
the sign of the Cross placed at the left of those names at the top of
the document. She strongly urged the Duke in these letters to make
peace with the King; she appeals on the score of his relationship with
Charles, to his French blood, in order to prevent further bloodshed,
and to aid the rightful King. While waiting some definite answer from
the Duke, the King went to Vailly-sur-Aisne from Rheims. He arrived at
Soissons on the 28th of July, and Chateau Thierry on the next day.
Montmirail was reached on the 1st of August, Provins on the 2nd. It
will be seen that, instead of marching straight upon Paris, the King
was making a mere detour from Rheims towards the Loire.

It was soon evident that Charles and his civil councillors had no
intention of advancing direct upon Paris, and were merely marching and
counter-marching until t