e English; yet one should not easily and lightly believe the words
of a peasant girl bred in solitude, for the female sex was frail and
easily deceived, and France must not be made ridiculous in the eyes of
the foreigner. "The French," he added, "are already famous for the
ease with which they are duped." He ended by advising Pierre l'Hermite
that it would be well for the King to fast and do penance so that
Heaven might enlighten him and preserve him from error.[700]

[Footnote 700: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 393-407; vol. v, p. 473.
Marcellin Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes-Maritimes ou Cottiennes_, vol.
ii, pp. 313, 314.]

But the mind of the oracle and ex-councillor could not rest. He wrote
direct to King Charles and Queen Marie to warn them of the danger. To
him it seemed that there could be no good in the damsel. He mistrusted
her for three reasons: first, because she came from a country in the
possession of the King's enemies, Burgundians and Lorrainers;
secondly, she was a shepherdess and easily deceived; thirdly, she was
a maid. He cited as an example Alexander of Macedon, whom a Queen
endeavoured to poison. She had been fed on venom by the King's enemies
and then sent to him in the hope that he would fall a victim to the
wench's[701] wiles. But Aristotle dismissed the seductress and thus
delivered his prince from death. The Archbishop of Embrun, as wise as
Aristotle, warned the King against conversing with the damsel in
private. He advised that she should be kept at a distance and
examined, but not repulsed.

[Footnote 701: [In the original French _garce_.] The text has _grace_,
which is not possible. I have conjectured that the word should be
_garce_.]

A prudent answer to those letters reassured Gelu. In a new epistle he
testified to the King his satisfaction at hearing that the damsel was
regarded with suspicion and left in uncertainty as to whether she
would or would not be believed. Then, with a return to his former
misgivings, he added: "It behoves not that she should have frequent
access to the King until such time as certainty be established
concerning her manner of life and her morals."[702]

[Footnote 702: M. Fornier, _Histoire des Alpes-Maritimes ou
Cottiennes_, vol. ii, pp. 313, 314.]

King Charles did indeed keep Jeanne in uncertainty as to what was
believed of her. But he did not suspect her of craftiness and he
received her willingly. She talked to him with the simplest
familiarity. She called h