to her countrymen to be decisively settled in her favor
by the austere sanctity of her life, by the holiness of her
conversation, but still more by her exemplary attention to all the
services and rites of the Church. The Dauphin at first feared the injury
that might be done to his cause if he laid himself open to the charge of
having leagued himself with a sorceress. Every imaginable test,
therefore, was resorted to in order to set Jeanne's orthodoxy and purity
beyond suspicion. At last Charles and his advisers felt safe in
accepting her services as those of a true and virtuous Christian
daughter of the holy Church.

It is, indeed, probable that Charles himself and some of his counsellors
may have suspected Jeanne of being a mere enthusiast, and it is certain
that Dunois and others of the best generals took considerable latitude
in obeying or deviating from the military orders that she gave. But over
the mass of the people and the soldiery her influence was unbounded.
While Charles and his doctors of theology, and court ladies, had been
deliberating as to recognizing or dismissing the Maid, a considerable
period had passed away during which a small army, the last gleanings, as
it seemed, of the English sword, had been assembled at Blois, under
Dunois, La Hire, Xaintrailles, and other chiefs, who to their natural
valor were now beginning to unite the wisdom that is taught by
misfortune. It was resolved to send Jeanne with this force and a convoy
of provisions to Orleans. The distress of that city had now become
urgent. But the communication with the open country was not entirely cut
off: the Orleannais had heard of the holy Maid whom Providence had
raised up for their deliverance, and their messengers earnestly implored
the Dauphin to send her to them without delay.

Jeanne appeared at the camp at Blois, clad in a new suit of brilliant
white armor, mounted on a stately black war-horse, and with a lance in
her right hand, which she had learned to wield with skill and grace. Her
head was unhelmeted, so that all could behold her fair and expressive
features, her deep-set and earnest eyes, and her long black hair, which
was parted across her forehead, and bound by a ribbon behind her back.
She wore at her side a small battle-axe, and the consecrated sword,
marked on the blade with five crosses, which had at her bidding been
taken for her from the shrine of St. Catharine at Fierbois. A page
carried her banner, which she had