hat
hitherto she had promised had been fulfilled; the fear of her had
fallen upon the English, and the terror of the English no longer
weighed upon the spirits of the French. He would go, come what
might. He would trust in the power of the Maid to finish that which
she had begun.

The shouts and plaudits of the courtiers within the castle, and of
the soldiers without, when this thing was known, was evidence
enough of the confidence and enthusiasm which the exploits of the
Maid had awakened. Not a soldier who had followed her heretofore
but would follow her now, wherever she should lead them. Surely her
heart must have swelled with joy and pride as she heard the clamour
of frantic applause ringing through the place.

But when she was back in her own apartments, and I was able to
approach her alone, I ventured to ask her something concerning her
silence of a short time back.

I always think with a great pride and tender joy of the trust and
friendship which the Maid reposed in me, thereby doing me a vast
honour. I had often ridden beside her on our marches, especially in
the earlier days, when she had not so many to claim her words and
counsels. Methinks she had spoken to Bertrand, to me, and to Sir
Guy de Laval with more freedom respecting her voices and her
visions than to any others, save, perhaps, the King himself, of
whom she had ever said she had revelations for his ear alone. She
would talk to us of things which for the most part she kept locked
away in her own breast; and now when I did ask her what it was that
had robbed her cheek of its colour, and wrapped her in a strange
trance of grave musing, she passed her hand across her eyes, and
then looked at me full, with a strange intensity of gaze.

"If I only knew! If I only knew myself!" she murmured.

"Did your voices speak to you, mistress mine? I have seen you fall
into such musing fits before this, when something has been
revealed; but then your eyes have been bright with joy--this time
they were clouded as with trouble."

"It was when the Duke spoke of other victories," she said,
dreamily; "I seemed to see before me a great confusion as of men
fighting and struggling. I saw my white banner fluttering, as it
were, victoriously; and yet there was a darkness upon my spirit. I
saw blackness--darkness--confusion; there was battle and
strife--garments rolled in blood. My own white pennon was the
centre of some furious struggle. I could not see what it was,