liticians had triumphed. They had thwarted the Maid, they had made
her promise to take Paris of no avail. They had destroyed the confidence
of men in the banner that had never gone back. Now they might take their
ease, now they might loiter in the gardens of the Loire. The Maid had
failed, by their design, and by their cowardice. The treachery that she,
who feared nothing else, had long dreaded, was accomplished now. 'The
will of the Maid and the army of the king were broken.'[25]

HOW THE MAID AND HER FAIR DUKE WERE SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER

The king now went from one pleasant tower on the Loire to another,
taking the Maid with him. Meanwhile, the English took and plundered some
of the cities which had yielded to Charles, and they carried off the
Maid's armour from the chapel in Saint Denis, where she had dedicated
it, 'because _Saint Denis!_ is the cry of France.' Her Voices had bidden
her stay at Saint Denis, but this she was not permitted to do, and now
she must hear daily how the loyal towns that she had won were plundered
by the English. The French garrisons also began to rob, as they had
done before she came. There was 'great pity in France' again, and all
her work seemed wasted. The Duc d'Alencon went to his own place of
Beaumont, but he returned, and offered to lead an army against the
English in Normandy, if the Maid might march with him. Then he would
have had followers in plenty, for the people had not wholly lost faith.
'But La Tremouille, and Gaucourt, and the Archbishop of Reims, who
managed the king and the war, would not consent, nor suffer the Maid and
the duke to be together, nor ever again might they meet.' So says Cagny,
and he adds that the Maid loved the fair duke above other men, 'and did
for him what she would do for no other.' She had saved his life at
Jargeau, but where was the duke when Joan was a prisoner? We do not
know, but we may believe that he, at least, would have helped her if he
could. They were separated by the jealousy of cowards, who feared that
the duke might win too much renown and become too powerful.

HOW MARVELLOUSLY THE MAID TOOK SAINT-PIERRE-LE-MOUSTIER

Even the banks of Loire, where the king loved to be, were not free from
the English. They held La Charite and Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier. Joan
wanted to return to Paris, but the council sent her to take La Charite
and Saint-Pierre-le-Moustier. This town she attacked first. Her squire,
a gentleman named d'Aulon, was wit