she was swallowed up in a great tide of people who rushed to
congratulate her and pour out benedictions upon her and upon the cause of
France, now solemnly and irrevocably delivered into her little hands.

Chapter 9 She Is Made General-in-Chief

IT WAS indeed a great day, and a stirring thing to see.

She had won! It was a mistake of Tremouille and her other ill-wishers to
let her hold court those nights.

The commission of priests sent to Lorraine ostensibly to inquire into
Joan's character--in fact to weary her with delays and wear out her
purpose and make her give it up--arrived back and reported her character
perfect. Our affairs were in full career now, you see.

The verdict made a prodigious stir. Dead France woke suddenly to life,
wherever the great news traveled. Whereas before, the spiritless and
cowed people hung their heads and slunk away if one mentioned war to
them, now they came clamoring to be enlisted under the banner of the Maid
of Vaucouleurs, and the roaring of war-songs and the thundering of the
drums filled all the air. I remembered now what she had said, that time
there in our village when I proved by facts and statistics that France's
case was hopeless, and nothing could ever rouse the people from their
lethargy:

"They will hear the drums--and they will answer, they will march!"

It has been said that misfortunes never come one at a time, but in a
body. In our case it was the same with good luck. Having got a start, it
came flooding in, tide after tide. Our next wave of it was of this sort.
There had been grave doubts among the priests as to whether the Church
ought to permit a female soldier to dress like a man. But now came a
verdict on that head. Two of the greatest scholars and theologians of the
time--one of whom had been Chancellor of the University of
Paris--rendered it. They decided that since Joan "must do the work of a
man and a soldier, it is just and legitimate that her apparel should
conform to the situation."

It was a great point gained, the Church's authority to dress as a man.
Oh, yes, wave on wave the good luck came sweeping in. Never mind about
the smaller waves, let us come to the largest one of all, the wave that
swept us small fry quite off our feet and almost drowned us with joy. The
day of the great verdict, couriers had been despatched to the King with
it, and the next morning bright and early the clear notes of a bugle came
floating to us on the crisp air, a