nd shake them
at him; and it was all a wild picture, and stirring to look at; and the
priest was a first-rate part of it, too, for he stood there in the strong
glare and looked down on those angry people in the blandest and most
indifferent way, so that while you wanted to burn him at the stake, you
still admired the aggravating coolness of him. And his winding-up was the
coolest thing of all. For he told them how, at the funeral of our old
King, the French King-at-Arms had broken his staff of office over the
coffin of "Charles VI. and his dynasty," at the same time saying, in a
loud voice, "Good grant long life to Henry, King of France and England,
our sovereign lord!" and then he asked them to join him in a hearty Amen
to that! The people were white with wrath, and it tied their tongues for
the moment, and they could not speak. But Joan was standing close by, and
she looked up in his face, and said in her sober, earnest way:

"I would I might see thy head struck from thy body!"--then, after a
pause, and crossing herself--"if it were the will of God."

This is worth remembering, and I will tell you why: it is the only harsh
speech Joan ever uttered in her life. When I shall have revealed to you
the storms she went through, and the wrongs and persecutions, then you
will see that it was wonderful that she said but one bitter thing while
she lived.

From the day that that dreary news came we had one scare after another,
the marauders coming almost to our doors every now and then; so that we
lived in ever-increasing apprehension, and yet were somehow mercifully
spared from actual attack. But at last our turn did really come. This was
in the spring of '28. The Burgundians swarmed in with a great noise, in
the middle of a dark night, and we had to jump up and fly for our lives.
We took the road to Neufchateau, and rushed along in the wildest
disorder, everybody trying to get ahead, and thus the movements of all
were impeded; but Joan had a cool head--the only cool head there--and she
took command and brought order out of that chaos. She did her work
quickly and with decision and despatch, and soon turned the panic flight
into a quite steady-going march. You will grant that for so young a
person, and a girl at that, this was a good piece of work.

She was sixteen now, shapely and graceful, and of a beauty so
extraordinary that I might allow myself any extravagance of language in
describing it and yet have no fear of going