Land, after having reconquered with King Charles
the sepulchre of our Lord. There were those who attributed this
prophecy to the Maid herself; for she had told her Confessor that she
would die in battle with the Infidel, and that after her God would
send a Maid of Rome who would take her place.[1637] And it is obvious
that Messire Regnault knew what store to set on such things. At any
rate, for that reason or for another, he asked: "Jeanne, in what place
look you for to die?"

[Footnote 1637: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 108, 109, 188, 189.]

To which she made answer: "Where it shall please God. For I am sure
neither of the time nor of the place, and I know no more thereof than
you."

No answer could have been more devout. My Lord the Bastard, who was
present at this conversation, many years later thought he remembered
that Jeanne had added: "But I would it were now God's pleasure for me
to retire, leaving my arms, and to go and serve my father and mother,
keeping sheep with my brethren and sister."[1638]

[Footnote 1638: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 14, 15. It is Dunois who is
giving evidence, and the text runs: _In custodiendo oves ipsorum, cum
sorore et fratribus meis, qui multum gauderent videre me_. But there
is reason to believe she had only one sister, whom she had lost before
coming into France. As for her brothers, two of them were with her.
Dunois' evidence appears to have been written down by a clerk
unacquainted with events. The hagiographical character of the passage
is obvious.]

If she really spoke thus, it was doubtless because she was haunted by
dark forebodings. For some time she had believed herself betrayed.[1639]
Possibly she suspected the Lord Archbishop of Reims of wishing her
ill. But it is hard to believe that he can have thought of getting rid
of her now when he had employed her with such signal success; rather
his intention was to make further use of her. Nevertheless he did not
like her, and she felt it. He never consulted her and never told her
what had been decided in council. And she suffered cruelly from the
small account made of the revelations she was always receiving so
abundantly. May we not interpret as a subtle and delicate reproach the
utterance in his presence of this wish, this complaint? Doubtless she
longed for her absent mother. And yet she was mistaken when she
thought that henceforth she could endure the tranquil life of a
village maiden. In her childhood at Domremy she seldom wen