oan kept it.

We learn the secret in this way. There was a man named Pierre Sala in
the service of Louis XI. and Charles VIII. of France. In his youth,
Pierre Sala used to hunt with M. de Boisy, who, in his youth, had been
gentleman of the bedchamber to Charles VII., Joan's king. To de Boisy
Charles VII. told the secret, and de Boisy told it to Pierre Sala. At
this time of his misfortunes (1429), when his treasurer had only four
crowns in his coffers, Charles went into his oratory to pray alone, and
he made his prayer to God secretly, not aloud, but in his mind.

Now, what Joan told the king was the secret prayer which he had made in
his own heart when alone. And, ten years later, when Joan was long dead,
an impostor went about saying that _she_ was the Maid, who had come to
life again. She was brought to Charles, who said, 'Maiden, my Maid, you
are welcome back again if you can tell me the secret that is between you
and me.' But the false Maid, falling on her knees, confessed all her
treason.

This is the story of the sign given to the king, which is not the least
strange of the things done by Joan the Maid. But there is a thing
stranger yet, though not so rare.

The king to whom Joan brought this wonderful message, the king whom she
loved so loyally, and for whom she died, spoiled all her plans. He, with
his political advisers, prevented her from driving the English quite out
of France. These favourites, men like the fat La Tremouille, found their
profit in dawdling and delaying, as politicians generally do. Thus, in
our own time, they hung off and on, till our soldiers were too late
to rescue Gordon from the Arabs. Thus, in Joan's time, she had literally
to goad them into action, to drag them on by constant prayers and tears.
They were lazy, comfortable, cowardly, disbelieving; in their hearts
they hated the Maid, who put them to so much trouble. As for Charles, to
whom the Maid was so loyal, had he been a man like the Black Prince, or
even like Prince Charlie, Joan would have led him into Paris before
summer was ended. 'I shall only last one year and little more,' she
often said to the king. The Duc d'Alencon heard her,[10] and much of that
precious year was wasted. Charles, to tell the truth, never really
believed in her; he never quite trusted her; he never led a charge by
her side; and, in the end, he shamefully deserted her, and left the Maid
to her doom.

HOW JOAN THE MAID WAS EXAMINED AT POICTIERS

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