g one who is divine; and always her feet were being kissed by
grateful folk, and such as failed of that privilege touched her horse
and then kissed their fingers.

Nothing that Joan did escaped notice; everything she did was commented
upon and applauded. You could hear the remarks going all the time.

"There--she's smiling--see!"

"Now she's taking her little plumed cap off to somebody--ah, it's fine
and graceful!"

"She's patting that woman on the head with her gauntlet."

"Oh, she was born on a horse--see her turn in her saddle, and kiss the
hilt of her sword to the ladies in the window that threw the flowers
down."

"Now there's a poor woman lifting up a child--she's kissed it--oh, she's
divine!"

"What a dainty little figure it is, and what a lovely face--and such
color and animation!"

Joan's slender long banner streaming backward had an accident--the fringe
caught fire from a torch. She leaned forward and crushed the flame in
her hand.

"She's not afraid of fire nor anything!" they shouted, and delivered a
storm of admiring applause that made everything quake.

She rode to the cathedral and gave thanks to God, and the people crammed
the place and added their devotions to hers; then she took up her march
again and picked her slow way through the crowds and the wilderness
of torches to the house of Jacques Boucher, treasurer of the Duke of
Orleans, where she was to be the guest of his wife as long as she stayed
in the city, and have his young daughter for comrade and room-mate. The
delirium of the people went on the rest of the night, and with it the
clamor of the joy-bells and the welcoming cannon.

Joan of Arc had stepped upon her stage at last, and was ready to begin.

Chapter 14 What the English Answered

SHE WAS ready, but must sit down and wait until there was an army to
work with.

Next morning, Saturday, April 30, 1429, she set about inquiring after
the messenger who carried her proclamation to the English from Blois--the
one which she had dictated at Poitiers. Here is a copy of it. It is
a remarkable document, for several reasons: for its matter-of-fact
directness, for its high spirit and forcible diction, and for its naive
confidence in her ability to achieve the prodigious task which she had
laid upon herself, or which had been laid upon her--which you please. All
through it you seem to see the pomps of war and hear the rumbling of
the drums. In it Joan's warrior soul is revealed