"Nor I," ejaculated Jacques. He laughed outright suddenly. "Why, the Bois Chesnu is our own wood out there," and he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Messire, 'tis a prophecy that will fail." "Scoff not, ye doubters," cried Louis. "With God all things are possible. For my part, I would a Maid would come to the healing of France. But there! 'tis long since I have slept on aught but stones, and fain would I lie upon a bed. Good Jacques, if you have such a thing, show me it, I pray you. I am weary." "Then come, messires." Jacques lighted a candle and led the way to an upper room, while Isabeau opened the doors of the cupboard bed on the far side of the room, and made it ready. Then she drew her children round her to hear their prayers and the Credo. After which the family went to their beds. But Jeanne lay down upon the floor before the hearth. ------ [2] Romée. So called by reason of a pilgrimage achieved either by her or some member of her family to Rome. [3] Hucques--Cloaks worn over the armour. CHAPTER III THE WAVES OF WAR REACH DOMREMY "_Bright shone the sun, the birds sang cheerfully, And all the fields seemed joyous in the Spring: But to Domremy wretched was that day; For there was lamentation, and the voice Of anguish, and the deeper agony That spake not._" SOUTHEY. "_Joan of Arc._" _Book I._ The condition of France in this year of grace, 1424, was deplorable in the extreme. For more than one hundred years war had raged between England and France. The kingdom which had been strong and splendid under the great Charlemagne had fallen into disintegration. Unity had no existence. By the treaty of Troyes, signed by the mad King, Charles VI, influenced by his unscrupulous queen, Isabella of Bavaria, Henry Fifth of England was made Regent of France during the lifetime of Charles, and assured of the full possession of the French throne after the mad King's death, thus disinheriting the Dauphin. Of the fourteen provinces left by Charles Fifth to his successor only three remained in the power of the French crown. It was Henry Fifth's fond hope that by this treaty and by his marriage with a French princess the war would cease, and France would lie forever at the foot of England. For a time it seemed as though these hopes were to be justified. Then, in 1422 both he and the French king died, and the war broke out again.