s one who knows.
Brother Pasquerel places the examination at Poitiers before the
audience granted by the King to the Maid in the chateau of
Chinon.[52]

[Footnote 51: _Ibid._, p. 100.]

[Footnote 52: We must notice, however, that Brother Pasquerel, who was
not present either at Chinon or at Poitiers, is careful to say that he
knows nothing of Jeanne's sojourn in these two towns save what she
herself has told him. Now we are surprised to find that she herself
placed the examination at Poitiers before the audience at Chinon,
since she says in her trial that at Chinon, when she gave her King a
sign, the clerks ceased to contend with her.--_Trial_, vol. i, p.
145.]

Forgetting that the whole relieving army had been in Orleans since May
4, he supposes that, on the evening of Friday the 6th, it was still
expected.[53] From such blunders we may judge of the muddled condition
of this poor priest's brain. His most serious shortcoming, however, is
the invention of miracles. He tries to make out that when the convoy
of victuals reached Orleans, there occurred, by the Maid's special
intervention, and in order to carry the barges up the river, a sudden
flood of the Loire which no one but himself saw.[54]

[Footnote 53: _Expectando succursum regis_, _Trial_, vol. iii, p.
109.]

[Footnote 54: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 105.]

The evidence of Dunois[55] is also somewhat deceptive. We know that
Dunois was one of the most intelligent and prudent men of his day, and
that he was considered a good speaker. In the defence of Orleans and
in the coronation campaign he had displayed considerable ability.
Either his evidence must have seriously suffered at the hands of the
translator and the scribes, or he must have caused it to be given by
his chaplain. He speaks of the "great number of the enemy" in terms
more appropriate to a canon of a cathedral or a woollen draper than to
a captain entrusted with the defence of a city and expected to know
the actual force of the besiegers. All his evidence dealing with the
transport of victuals on April 28 is well-nigh unintelligible. And
Dunois is unable to state that Troyes was the first stage in the
army's march from Gien.[56] Relating a conversation he held with the
Maid after the coronation, he makes her speak as if her brothers were
awaiting her at Domremy, whereas they were with her in France.[57]
Curiously blundering, he attempts to prove that Jeanne had visions by
relating a story much more cal