ayings indicate a different belief or
hope. She did no wrong in following the profession of arms in which she
had made so glorious a beginning; she had many gifts and aptitudes for
it of which she was not herself at first aware: but she was no longer
the Envoy of God. Enough had been done to arouse the old spirit of
France, to break the spell of the English supremacy; it was right and
fitting that France should do the rest for herself. Perhaps Jeanne was
not herself very clear on this point, and after her first statement of
it, became less assured. It is not necessary that the servant should
know the designs of the master. It did not after all affect her. Her
business was to serve God to the best of her power, not to take the
management out of His hands.

The army went forth joyously upon its way, directing itself towards
Paris. There was a pilgrimage to make, such as the Kings of France
were in the habit of making after their coronation; there were pleasant
incidents, the submission of a village, the faint resistance, instantly
overcome, of a small town, to make the early days pleasant. Laon and
Soissons both surrendered. Senlis and Beauvais received the King's
envoys with joy. The independent captains of the army made little
circles about, like parties of pleasure, bringing in another and another
little stronghold to the allegiance of the King. When he turned aside,
taking as he passed through, without as yet any serious deflection, the
road rather to the Loire than to Paris, success still attended him. At
Chateau-Thierry resistance was expected to give zest to the movement
of the forces, but that too yielded at once as the others had done.
The dates are very vague and it seems difficult to find any mode of
reconciling them. Almost all the historians while accusing the King of
foolish dilatoriness and confusion of plans give us a description of the
undefended state of Paris at the moment, which a sudden stroke on the
part of Charles might have carried with little difficulty, during the
absence of all the chiefs from the city and the great terror of the
inhabitants; but a comparison of dates shows that the Duke of Bedford
re-entered Paris with strong reinforcements on the very day on which
Charles left Rheims three days only after his coronation, so that he
scarcely seems so much to blame as appears. But the general delay,
inefficiency, and hesitation existing at headquarters, naturally lead to
mistakes of this kind.