went up a cry for the General, for they wanted to praise her and glorify
her and do her homage for her victory, we had trouble to find her; and
when we did find her, she was off by herself, sitting among a ruck of
corpses, with her face in her hands, crying--for she was a young girl,
you know, and her hero heart was a young girl's heart too, with the
pity and the tenderness that are natural to it. She was thinking of the
mothers of those dead friends and enemies.

Among the prisoners were a number of priests, and Joan took these under
her protection and saved their lives. It was urged that they were most
probably combatants in disguise, but she said:

"As to that, how can any tell? They wear the livery of God, and if even
one of these wears it rightfully, surely it were better that all the
guilty should escape than that we have upon our hands the blood of that
innocent man. I will lodge them where I lodge, and feed them, and sent
them away in safety."

We marched back to the city with our crop of cannon and prisoners on
view and our banners displayed. Here was the first substantial bit of
war-work the imprisoned people had seen in the seven months that the
siege had endured, the first chance they had had to rejoice over a
French exploit. You may guess that they made good use of it. They and
the bells went mad. Joan was their darling now, and the press of people
struggling and shouldering each other to get a glimpse of her was so
great that we could hardly push our way through the streets at all. Her
new name had gone all about, and was on everybody's lips. The Holy Maid
of Vaucouleurs was a forgotten title; the city had claimed her for its
own, and she was the MAID OF ORLEANS now. It is a happiness to me to
remember that I heard that name the first time it was ever uttered.
Between that first utterance and the last time it will be uttered on
this earth--ah, think how many moldering ages will lie in that gap!

The Boucher family welcomed her back as if she had been a child of the
house, and saved from death against all hope or probability. They chided
her for going into the battle and exposing herself to danger during
all those hours. They could not realize that she had meant to carry her
warriorship so far, and asked her if it had really been her purpose to
go right into the turmoil of the fight, or hadn't she got swept into
it by accident and the rush of the troops? They begged her to be more
careful another time.