n.[431]

[Footnote 431: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. cc, note.]

The following story appears the most authentic. There were certain
worthy persons at Nancy who wanted Duke Charles to take back his good
wife. To persuade him to do so they had recourse to the exhortations
of a saint, who had revelations from Heaven, and who called herself
the Daughter of God. By these persons the damsel of Domremy was
represented to the enfeebled old Duke as being a saint who worked
miracles of healing. By their advice he had her summoned in the hope
that she possessed secrets which should alleviate his sufferings and
keep him alive.

As soon as he saw her he asked whether she could not restore him to
his former health and strength.

She replied that "of such things" she knew nothing. But she warned him
that his ways were evil, and that he would not be cured until he had
amended them. She enjoined upon him to send away Alison, his
concubine, and to take back his good wife.[432]

[Footnote 432: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 87. Dom Calmet, _Histoire de
Lorraine_, vol. iii, proofs and illustrations, col. vj.]

No doubt she had been told to say something of this kind; but it also
came from her own heart, for she loathed bad women.

Jeanne had come to the Duke because it was his due, because a little
saint must not refuse when a great lord wishes to consult her, and
because in short she had been brought to Nancy. But her mind was
elsewhere; of nought could she think but of saving the realm of
France.

Reflecting that Madame Yolande's son with a goodly company of
men-at-arms would be of great aid to the Dauphin, she asked the Duke
of Lorraine, as she took her leave, to send this young knight with her
into France.

"Give me your son," she said, "with men-at-arms as my escort. In
return I will pray to God for your restoration to health."

The Duke did not give her men-at-arms; neither did he give her the
Duke of Bar, the heir of Lorraine, the ally of the English, who was
nevertheless to join her soon beneath the standard of King Charles.
But he gave her four francs and a black horse.[433]

[Footnote 433: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 391, 444.]

Perhaps it was on her return from Nancy that she wrote to her parents
asking their pardon for having left them. The fact that they received
a letter and forgave is all that is known.[434] One cannot forbear
surprise that Jacques d'Arc, all through the month that his daughter
was at Vaucouleurs,