is, in which it was decided to lay siege to the town
of Orleans, which was a place of great importance to the Dauphin's cause.
An English army of ten thousand men was despatched on this service, under
the command of the Earl of Salisbury, a general of fame. He being
unfortunately killed early in the siege, the Earl of Suffolk took his
place; under whom (reinforced by SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, who brought up four
hundred waggons laden with salt herrings and other provisions for the
troops, and, beating off the French who tried to intercept him, came
victorious out of a hot skirmish, which was afterwards called in jest the
Battle of the Herrings) the town of Orleans was so completely hemmed in,
that the besieged proposed to yield it up to their countryman the Duke of
Burgundy. The English general, however, replied that his English men had
won it, so far, by their blood and valour, and that his English men must
have it. There seemed to be no hope for the town, or for the Dauphin,
who was so dismayed that he even thought of flying to Scotland or to
Spain--when a peasant girl rose up and changed the whole state of
affairs.

The story of this peasant girl I have now to tell.

PART THE SECOND: THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC

In a remote village among some wild hills in the province of Lorraine,
there lived a countryman whose name was JACQUES D'ARC. He had a
daughter, JOAN OF ARC, who was at this time in her twentieth year. She
had been a solitary girl from her childhood; she had often tended sheep
and cattle for whole days where no human figure was seen or human voice
heard; and she had often knelt, for hours together, in the gloomy, empty,
little village chapel, looking up at the altar and at the dim lamp
burning before it, until she fancied that she saw shadowy figures
standing there, and even that she heard them speak to her. The people in
that part of France were very ignorant and superstitious, and they had
many ghostly tales to tell about what they had dreamed, and what they saw
among the lonely hills when the clouds and the mists were resting on
them. So, they easily believed that Joan saw strange sights, and they
whispered among themselves that angels and spirits talked to her.

At last, Joan told her father that she had one day been surprised by a
great unearthly light, and had afterwards heard a solemn voice, which
said it was Saint Michael's voice, telling her that she was to go and
help the Dauphin. Soon after