Paid by the city of Tours to John Colez _10 livres tournois_ for having brought the good news of the capture of Orleans by _la pucelle_ [Joan of Arc], _Mgr. de Rais et les gens de leur compagnie_. [Illustration] CHAPTER III GILLE’S LIFE AT HOME IN BRITANNY 1430–1439 _The personal Appearance of Gilles de Retz. An Epitome of his Life. His Extravagance and ruinous Expenditures. His Inheritance. His Sales and Transfers of Property. His Love for the Theatre. Mysteries. That of the Siege of Orleans. Mysteries at Nantes. The Cathedral. Expensive Visit to Orleans. Maison de la Suze. The Decree of the King interdicting his Sale or Incumbrance of Property. The increasing Demand for Money drives him to Magic in Search for the Philosopher’s Stone and the Transmutation of base Metals into Gold. Magic._ There are but two known portraits of Gilles de Retz. That in the palace at Versailles is purely imaginative, and was only made to complete the series of the Marshals of France. It is not known by whom or at what time the other was made. In 1438, Gilles was thirty-five years old, tall, handsome, and well formed. He showed in his face, figure, and in every movement, his pride and spirit. He had a high, rather than broad, forehead; his nose was prominent and slightly aquiline; the nostrils were large and thin, and, on occasions of anger, spread and quivered in an interesting and threatening manner. His lips were rather thin but well coloured, and had a tinge of delicate and refined sensuality. Like many of the Breton race, his complexion was fair, his eyes large and blue, and his eyebrows and lashes long and black. His hair was also long and black, and beard the same. It was soft and silky, and with its raven blackness became shiny, giving it a tinge of blue-black, which may have served as a foundation for his pseudonym in that country. His neck was neither too short, too long, nor yet too large, but seemed a column full of nervous strength, calculated to support solidly and well his head and brain, with whatever of pride, audacity, and confidence it might have. His shoulders were square, his body long, his waist small, while the bust and hips were large and fairly placed upon the muscular legs, which stood straight under him, giving his body firm support. His fingers were long and tapering, his hands small, and their fair complexion, when brought in contact with his velvet costume and lace ruffles, showed them to good advantage. Thus, he had the physical appearance of an athlete trained in all the exercises of the body; of much strength, a good walker, a good rider, and capable of any feat at arms. Michelet (_Hist. de France_, vol. v., pp. 208–213) describes Gilles as of “_bon entendment, belle personne et bonne façon, lettré de plus, et appréciant fort ce qui parlaient avec élégance la langue latine_.”