was said that the Chancellor of France
wanted to disband the army. It was absurd. On the contrary, great
efforts for the deliverance of the city were being made by the King's
Council and that of the Queen of Sicily. But the people's brains had
been turned by their long suffering and their terrible danger. A more
reasonable fear was lest any mishap should occur on the road from
Blois like that which had overtaken the force at Rouvray. The Maid's
comrades were infected with the anxieties of the townsfolk; one of
them betrayed his fears to her, but she was not affected by them. With
the radiant tranquillity of the illuminated, she said:[998] "The
Marshal will come. I am confident that no harm will happen to
him."[999]

[Footnote 997: _Journal du siege_, pp. 51, 52.]

[Footnote 998: Beaucroix, in his evidence, says it was Jean d'Aulon
(_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 79); but, according to his own testimony,
d'Aulon was then following the Bastard (_Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 210).]

[Footnote 999: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 79. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p.
286. P. Mantellier, _Histoire du siege_, p. 85.]

On that day there entered into the city the little garrisons of Gien,
of Chateau-Regnard, and of Montargis.[1000] But the Blois army did not
come. On the morrow, at daybreak, it was descried in the plain of La
Beauce. And, indeed, the Sire de Rais and his company, escorted by the
Marshal de Boussac and my Lord the Bastard, were skirting the Forest
of Orleans.[1001] At these tidings the citizens must needs exclaim
that the Maid had been right in wishing to march straight against
Talbot since the captains now followed the very road she had
indicated. But in reality it was not just as they thought. Only one
part of the Blois army had risked forcing its way between the western
bastions; the convoy, with its escort, like the first convoy, was
coming through La Sologne and was to enter the town by water. Those
arrangements for the entrance of supplies, which, in the first
instance, had proved successful, were naturally now repeated.[1002]

[Footnote 1000: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 287.]

[Footnote 1001: _Ibid._, p. 287. _Journal du siege_, p. 81. Abbe
Dubois, _Histoire du siege_, dissertation ix. Lottin, _Recherches_,
vol. i, p. 205. Loiseleur, _Comptes des depenses_, ch. vii.]

[Footnote 1002: On the 4th of May, as on the 29th of April, the corn
was brought down the Loire. Indeed there exists a bill which makes
mention of "sailors who