those whose duty it was to have been her
staunchest friends and helpers; and, deplorable to say, among her own
countrymen.

Charles left Saint Denis on the 13th of September. Before his
departure, Joan of Arc performed an act which indicated that she felt
her mission to be finished. In the old fane of Saint Denis, the
tomb-house of the long line of French kings, she solemnly placed her
armour and arms at the foot of an image of the Holy Mother, near the
spot where were kept the relics of the Patron Saint of France. By that
act of humility she seemed to wish to show her abnegation of any
further earthly victory by the aid of arms.

We have now arrived at the turning-point of Joan of Arc's successes,
and although the heroine is even more admirable in her days of
misfortune and suffering than in those of her triumphs, when she led
her followers on from victory to victory, the course of her brief life
now darkens rapidly, and the approaching fate of the brave-hearted
maiden is so terrible that it requires some courage to follow her to
the very end, glorious as that end was, and bright with its sainted
heroism.

The King's return journey from Compiegne to Gien was so hurried that
it almost resembled a flight. Avoiding the towns still doubtful in
their loyalty to him, Charles sped from Lagny to Bovins, then to Bray,
Courtenay, Chateau-Regnaut, and Montargis, arriving at Gien on the
21st of September. Ere this time there could be little doubt of the
Duke of Burgundy's unwillingness to abide by his pledge, and restore
Paris to Charles. The Duke and Bedford had in fact already come to
terms. The Regent resigned to Burgundy the Lieutenancy of the country,
keeping only the now empty title of Regent and the charge of Normandy.
The result of the King's withdrawal from the neighbourhood of Paris,
and his hurried march, or rather retreat, to Gien, was that the
English felt that there was now no longer any fear of their being
drawn out of the capital. They promptly marched on and occupied Saint
Denis, pillaging that town and carrying off as a trophy the arms which
Joan of Arc had placed by the shrine of Saint Denis, in the ancient
basilica of Dagobert.

The other towns, which had so recently returned to their allegiance to
Charles, were again abandoned to the English, who punished them by
levying large ransoms on the citizens. The surrounding country was
laid waste, and Joan of Arc had the mortification of seeing that,
without an