chemont to
Sully-sur-Loire and made her promise good.

The great deeds of Joan of Arc are five:

1. The Raising of the Siege.

2. The Victory of Patay.

3. The Reconciliation at Sully-sur-Loire.

4. The Coronation of the King.

5. The Bloodless March.

We shall come to the Bloodless March presently (and the Coronation).
It was the victorious long march which Joan made through the enemy's
country from Gien to Rheims, and thence to the gates of Paris, capturing
every English town and fortress that barred the road, from the beginning
of the journey to the end of it; and this by the mere force of her name,
and without shedding a drop of blood--perhaps the most extraordinary
campaign in this regard in history--this is the most glorious of her
military exploits.

The Reconciliation was one of Joan's most important achievements. No
one else could have accomplished it; and, in fact, no one else of
high consequence had any disposition to try. In brains, in scientific
warfare, and in statesmanship the Constable Richemont was the ablest
man in France. His loyalty was sincere; his probity was above
suspicion--(and it made him sufficiently conspicuous in that trivial and
conscienceless Court).

In restoring Richemont to France, Joan made thoroughly secure the
successful completion of the great work which she had begun. She had
never seen Richemont until he came to her with his little army. Was it
not wonderful that at a glance she should know him for the one man who
could finish and perfect her work and establish it in perpetuity? How
was it that that child was able to do this? It was because she had the
"seeing eye," as one of our knights had once said. Yes, she had that
great gift--almost the highest and rarest that has been granted to man.
Nothing of an extraordinary sort was still to be done, yet the remaining
work could not safely be left to the King's idiots; for it would require
wise statesmanship and long and patient though desultory hammering of
the enemy. Now and then, for a quarter of a century yet, there would be
a little fighting to do, and a handy man could carry that on with small
disturbance to the rest of the country; and little by little, and with
progressive certainty, the English would disappear from France.

And that happened. Under the influence of Richemont the King became at
a later time a man--a man, a king, a brave and capable and determined
soldier. Within six years after Patay he was leading