he have been relieved from
them by the words of a damsel who, as far as he then knew, might be
mad or sent to him by his enemies? It is hard to reconcile such
credulity with what we know of his suspicious nature. The first
thought that occurred to him must have been that ecclesiastics had
instructed the damsel.

A few moments after he had dismissed her, he assembled the Sire de
Gaucourt and certain other members of his Council and repeated to them
what he had just heard: "She told me that God had sent her to aid me
to recover my kingdom."[679] He did not add that she had revealed to
him a secret known to himself alone.[680]

[Footnote 679: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 17, 209. As early as April the
promised deliverance of Orleans and coronation at Reims had been heard
of at Lyons (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 426).]

[Footnote 680: Pasquerel alone of the witnesses mentions this
(_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 103). Cf. the anecdote of the Sire de Boissy
related by P. Sala in his collection, _Les hardiesses des grands rois
et empereurs_ (_Trial_, vol. iv, p. 278).]

The King's Counsellors, knowing little of the damsel, decided that
they must have her before them to examine her concerning her life and
her belief.[681]

[Footnote 681: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 209.]

The Sire de Gaucourt took her from the inn and lodged her in a tower
of that Castle of Coudray, which for the last three days she had seen
dominating the town.[682] One of the three castles, Le Coudray was
only separated from the middle chateau in which the King dwelt by a
moat and fortifications.[683] The Sire de Gaucourt confided her to
the care of the lieutenant of the Town of Chinon, Guillaume Bellier,
the King's Major Domo.[684] He gave her for her servant one of his own
pages, a child of fifteen, Immerguet, sometimes called Minguet, and
sometimes Mugot. His real name was Louis de Coutes, and he came of an
old warrior family which had been in the service of the house of
Orleans for a century. His father, Jean, called Minguet, Lord of
Fresnay-le-Gelmert, of la Gadeliere and of Mitry, Chamberlain to the
Duke of Orleans, had died in great poverty the year before. He had
left a widow and five children, three boys and two girls, one of whom,
Jeanne by name, had since 1421 been the wife of Messire Florentin
d'Illiers, Governor of Chateaudun. Thus the little page, Louis de
Coutes, and his mother, Catherine le Mercier, Dame de Noviant, who
came of a noble Scottish family, were both