n in a field on that same wavering road to Paris,
dated as early as the 5th of August and addressed to the good people of
Rheims, some of whom had evidently written to her to ask what was the
meaning of the delay, and whether she had given up the cause of
the country. There is a terse determination in its brief, indignant
sentences which is a relief to the reader weary of the wavering and
purposeless campaign:

"Dear and good friends, good and loyal Frenchmen of the town of Rheims.
Jeanne, the Maid, sends you news of her. It is true that the King has
made a truce of fifteen days with the Duke of Burgundy, who promises
to render peaceably the city of Paris in that time. Do not, however, be
surprised if I enter there sooner, for I like not truces so made, and
know not whether I will keep them, but if I keep them, it will be only
because of the honour of the King."

While Jeanne and her army thus played with the unmoving English,
advancing and retiring, attempting every means of drawing them out, the
enemy took advantage of one of these seeming withdrawals to march out
of their camp suddenly and return to Paris, which all this time had
been lying comparatively defenceless, had the French made their attack
sooner. At the same time Charles moved on to Compiegne where he gave
himself up to fresh intrigues with Philip of Burgundy, this time for a
truce to last till Christmas. The Maid was grievously troubled by this
step, _moult marrie_, and by the new period of delay and negotiation on
which the Court had entered. Paris was not given up, nor was there any
appearance that it ever would be, and to all the generals as well as to
the Maid it was very evident that this was the next step to be taken.
Some of the leaders wearied with inaction had pushed on to Normandy
where four great fortresses--greatest of all the immense and mysterious
stronghold on the high cliffs of the Seine, that imposing Chateau
Gaillard which Richard Coeur-de-lion had built, the ruins of which, white
and mystic, still dominate, like some Titanic ghost, above the course of
the river--had yielded to them. So great was the danger of Normandy, the
most securely English of all French provinces, that Bedford had again
been drawn out of Paris to defend it. Here then was another opportunity
to seize the capital. But Charles could not be induced to move. He found
many ways of amusing himself at Compiegne, and the new treaty was being
hatched with Burgundy which gav