a doubtful quantity. Besides, it was not
convenient that the University of Paris should be allowed the entire
direction of the trial. It was well that the University should be made
use of; but Cauchon relied on the Inquisition to carry out his and
Bedford's plan. Cauchon must be the principal agent and judge, and he
felt, with Bedford, that they had a freer hand if the trial were to be
at Rouen; therefore Rouen was decided on as the place of trial and
punishment. Rouen, also, being in the midst of the English
possessions, was perfectly safe from attack, should it occur to any of
Joan of Arc's countrymen to attempt a rescue.

At the close of December Joan of Arc was taken across the river Somme,
in a boat, to Saint Valery, and thence, strongly guarded, and placed
on horseback, she was led along the Normandy coast by Eure and Dieppe
to the place of her martyrdom. On arriving at Rouen it was seriously
debated by some of her captors whether or not she should be at once
put to death. They suggested her being sewn into a sack and thrown
into the river! The reason these people gave for summarily disposing
of Joan of Arc without form or trial was that, as long as she lived,
there was no security for the English in France. As has already been
noticed, those who commanded and sided with the English were desirous
that Joan of Arc should be first branded as a witch and a sorceress,
both by the doctors of the Church and by the State, before being put
to death.

Arrived at Rouen, Joan of Arc was immured in the old fortress built by
Philip Augustus. One tower alone remains of the seven massive round
towers which surrounded the circular castle. Her jailers had the
barbarity to place their prisoner in an iron cage, in which she was
fastened with iron rings and chains, one at the neck, another at the
hands, and a third confining the feet. Joan was thus caged as if she
were a wild animal until her trial commenced. After that, she was
chained to a miserable truckle bed.

A chronicler of that time, named Macy, tells the following story of an
incident which, for the sake of English manhood, one trusts is untrue.
Among others who went to see Joan of Arc in her prison came one day
the Earl of Warwick, with Lord Stafford and Ligny--Joan's former
jailer. The latter told her in a jeering way that he had come to buy
her back from the English, provided she promised never again to make
war against them.

'You are mocking me,' said Joan of Arc.