dness and
devotion. On the first of August they gave her a dinner and presented
her with two hundred and ten livres of Paris as an acknowledgment of
the service she had rendered to the town during the siege. These are
the very terms in which this expenditure is entered in the account
books of that city.[2660]

[Footnote 2660: Extracts from the accounts of the town of Orleans, in
_Trial_, vol. v, pp. 331-332. Lecoy de la Marche, _Une fausse Jeanne
d'Arc_, pp. 570-571.]

If the folk of Orleans did actually take her for the real Maid,
Jeanne, then it must have been more on account of the evidence of the
Du Lys brothers, than on that of their own eyes. For, when one comes
to think of it, they had seen her but very seldom. During that week in
May, she had only appeared before them armed and on horseback.
Afterwards in June, 1429, and January, 1430, she had merely passed
through the town. True it was she had been offered wine and the
magistrates had sat at table with her;[2661] but that was nine years
ago. And the lapse of nine years works many a change in a woman's
face. They had seen her last as a young girl, now they found her a
woman and the mother of two children. Moreover they were guided by the
opinion of her kinsfolk. Their attitude provokes some astonishment,
however, when one thinks of the conversation at the banquet, and of
the awkward and inconsistent remarks the dame must have uttered. If
they were not then undeceived, these burgesses must have been passing
simple and strongly prejudiced in favour of their guest.

[Footnote 2661: Original documents of Orleans, in _Trial_, vol. v, p.
270.]

And who can say that they were not? Who can say that, after having
given credence to the tidings brought by Jean du Lys, the townsfolk
did not begin to discover the imposture? That the belief in the
survival of Jeanne was by no means general in the city, during the
visit of la Dame des Armoises, is proved by the entries in the
municipal accounts of sums expended on the funeral services, which we
have already mentioned. Supposing we abstract the years 1437 and 1438,
the anniversary service had at any rate been held in 1439, two days
before Corpus-Christi, and only about three months before the banquet
on the 1st of August.[2662] Thus these grateful burgesses of Orleans
were at one and the same time entertaining their benefactress at
banquets and saying masses in memory of her death.

[Footnote 2662: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 27