While Joan is standing on the threshold, looking out wide-eyed into that new, strange world of war and bloodshed for which she must leave forever the small safe ways of home, let us try to form some idea of what she was going out for to see. FOOTNOTES: [18] Lowell. "Joan of Arc," p. 28. N. B.--Other authorities place the light on her _right_ hand. [19] W. B. Clarke. "The Fighting Race." CHAPTER VI THE EMPTY THRONE Alez-vous en, alez, alez, Soussi, Soing, et Mérencolie, Me cuidez-vous toute ma vie Gouverner, comme fait avez. Je vous promet que non ferez; Raison aura sur vous maistrie: Alez-vous en, alez, alez, Soussi, Soing et Mérencolie. Se jamais plus vous retournez Avecques vostre compaignie. Je pri à Dieu qu'il vous maudie Et ce par qui vous revendrez: Alez-vous en, alez, alez. --_Charles d'Orléans._ At the funeral of Charles VI. of France (November 11th, 1422) John, Duke of Bedford, was the solitary mourner. Alone he walked, the sword of state borne before him as Regent of France; alone he knelt at the requiem mass: an alien and a stranger. The people of Paris looked on in silence; they had nothing to say. "They wept," we are told by a contemporary, "and not without cause, for they knew not whether for a long, long while they would have any king in France." A few days before this, on October thirtieth, Charles the Dauphin had assumed the title of king, and at a high mass in the cathedral of Bourges had made his first royal communion. "The king of Bourges," those of the Anglo-Burgundian party called him; none of them thought he would ever be anything else. He was twenty years old at this time. We shall make his personal acquaintance later; our business now is with the country over which he assumed sovereignty. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, did not attend the funeral of his late master; he had no idea of yielding precedence to John of Bedford. He sent chamberlains and excuses; was England's faithful ally, he protested, but was very busy at home. The war meantime was going on as best it might. There were various risings in Charles's favor: in Paris itself, in Troyes, in Rheims; all put down with a strong hand. At Rheims, the superior of the Carmelite friars was accused of favoring the banished prince; he did not deny it, and declared stoutly, "Never was English king of France, and never shall be!" In Paris, several citizens were beheaded, and one woman burned; with little effect save on the sufferers themselves.