cceeded in inveigling his victim into making
statements he considered could be used in a charge of heresy against
her.

When bidden to say if she would be ready to submit herself regarding
all her actions to the determination of the Church, she answered that
she loved the Church, and was ready to obey its doctrines as far as
lay in her power; and on being asked to which Church she alluded,
whether to the Church Militant or to the Church Triumphant, she
replied, 'I have been sent to France by God and the Virgin Mary, and
by the saints of the Church Victorious from above, and to that Church
I submit myself, and all that I have done or may have to do!'

This answer did not satisfy Cauchon, and he again inquired to which
Church she submitted; but Joan had already answered, and would say no
more--and on this Cauchon fixed his accusation of heresy against the
heroine. Having failed throughout the trial to get Joan to say
anything incriminating regarding Charles VII. or anything which might
tend to injure him in the minds of his subjects, Cauchon had Joan
questioned as to what she thought respecting the murder of the Duke of
Orleans by Charles.

'It was a great misfortune for the kingdom of France,' was her answer.

Could the wariest statesman have better parried that question? Not on
one single occasion during the long series of questions that Joan of
Arc was made to undergo, without any counsel or help, and with some of
the subtlest brains in the country eager to involve her in damaging
statements and to entangle her in saying something which might be
taken up as injurious to Charles--that mean prince, who made so much
by her devotion to him and his cause, and in return for that devotion
had not taken a step towards attempting her deliverance--not at any
time did she drop one word or let an expression escape her which could
cause any uneasiness to the King, who had proved himself so utterly
unworthy of such a subject, or to the men about the King's person,
some of whom, if not actually guilty of having given her over to her
enemies, at any rate had allowed her to be kept during all those long
months a close prisoner, without protest or any sign of sympathy.

When the judges asked Joan if she were as willing to answer the
questions put to her, standing in the presence of the Pope, as she had
done in the presence of the Bishop of Beauvais, she replied that she
would willingly do so. The idea of referring her case to the P