n possession of their property. They were directed
by the cleverest man in the King's Council, the Duke Archbishop of
Reims, the Chancellor of the kingdom. By the ceremoniousness and the
deliberation of their inquiries, they drew upon Jeanne the curiosity,
the interest, and the hopes of minds lost in amazement.[88]

[Footnote 88: O. Raguenet, _Les juges de Jeanne d'Arc a Poitiers,
membres du Parlement ou gens d'Eglise?_ in _Lettres et memoires de
l'Academie de Sainte-Croix d'Orleans VII_, 1894, pp. 339-442; D.
Lacombe, _L'hote de Jeanne d'Arc a Poitiers, maitre Jean Rabateau,
President au Parlement de Poitiers in Revue du Bas-Poitou_, 1891, pp.
46-66.]

The defences of the city of Orleans consisted in its walls, its
trenches, its cannon, its men-at-arms, and its money. The English had
failed both to surround it and to take it by assault. Convoys and
companies passed between their bastions. Jeanne was introduced into
the town with a strong relieving army. She brought flocks of oxen,
sheep, and pigs. The townsfolk believed her to be an angel of the
Lord. Meanwhile the men and the money of the besiegers were waxing
scant. They had lost all their horses. Far from being in a position to
attempt a new attack, they were not likely to be able to hold out long
in their bastions. At the end of April there were four thousand
English before Orleans and perhaps less, for, as it was said, soldiers
were deserting every day; and companies of these deserters went
plundering through the villages. At the same time the city was
defended by six thousand men-at-arms and archers, and by more than
three thousand men of the town bands. At Saint Loup, there were
fifteen hundred French against four hundred English; at Les Tourelles,
there were five thousand French against four or five hundred English.
By their retreat from Orleans the _Godons_ abandoned to their fate the
small garrisons of Jargeau, Meung, and Beaugency.[89] The Battle of
Patay gives us some idea of the condition of the English army. It was
no battle but a massacre, and one which Jeanne only reached in time to
mourn over the cruelty of the conquerors. And yet the King, in his
letters to his good towns, attributed to her a share in the victory.
Evidently the Royal Council made a point of glorifying its Holy Maid.

[Footnote 89: Mr. Andrew Lang (_La Jeanne d'Arc de M. Anatole France_,
p. 60) misreads this passage when he takes it to mean that the English
withdrew their garrisons