LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOL. I

JOAN OF ARC _Frontispiece_
From a painting by Deruet.

_To face page_

HOUSE OF JOAN OF ARC AT DOMREMY IN 1419 12

VIEW OF ORLEANS, 1428-1429 106

PLAN OF ORLEANS 258

CHARLES VII 444
From an old engraving.

JOAN OF ARC

CHAPTER I

CHILDHOOD

From Neufchateau to Vaucouleurs the clear waters of the Meuse flow
freely between banks covered with rows of poplar trees and low bushes
of alder and willow. Now they wind in sudden bends, now in gradual
curves, for ever breaking up into narrow streams, and then the threads
of greenish waters gather together again, or here and there are
suddenly lost to sight underground. In the summer the river is a lazy
stream, barely bending in its course the reeds which grow upon its
shallow bed; and from the bank one may watch its lapping waters kept
back by clumps of rushes scarcely covering a little sand and moss. But
in the season of heavy rains, swollen by sudden torrents, deeper and
more rapid, as it rushes along, it leaves behind it on the banks a
kind of dew, which rises in pools of clear water on a level with the
grass of the valley.

This valley, two or three miles broad, stretches unbroken between low
hills, softly undulating, crowned with oaks, maples, and birches.
Although strewn with wild-flowers in the spring, it looks severe,
grave, and sometimes even sad. The green grass imparts to it a
monotony like that of stagnant water. Even on fine days one is
conscious of a hard, cold climate. The sky seems more genial than the
earth. It beams upon it with a tearful smile; it constitutes all the
movement, the grace, the exquisite charm of this delicate tranquil
landscape. Then when winter comes the sky merges with the earth in a
kind of chaos. Fogs come down thick and clinging. The white light
mists, which in summer veil the bottom of the valley, give place to
thick clouds and dark moving mountains, but slowly scattered by a red,
cold sun. Wanderers ranging the uplands in the early morning might
dream with the mystics in their ecstasy that they are walking on
clouds.

Thus, after having passed on the left the wooded plateau, from the
height of which the chateau of Bourlemont