The archbishop of Rheims, chancellor of France, and president of the king’s council, summoned doctors and professors of theology, some of them priests, others monks, and ordered them to examine the Maid. The doctors being introduced and seated in a hall, Joan sat down on the end of the bench, and replied to their questions. She recounted the apparitions and the words of the angels, with dignified simplicity. A Dominican met her with a single objection, but it was one of weight: “Jehanne, thou sayest it is God’s will to deliver the people of France; if such is his will he has no need of men-at-arms.” The observation did not confound her. “Ah! _mon Dieu_,” said she, “the men-at-arms will do battle, and God will give the victory.” Another person was not so easily satisfied. This was Friar Séguin, a Limousin, professor of theology in the university of Poitiers, “a very sour man,” says the chronicle. He asked her, in his Limousin French, “What language did the celestial voice speak?” Joan answered with rather too much sharpness, “A better one than yours.” “Dost thou believe in God?” said the enraged doctor; “well then, God will not have us put faith in thy words unless thou show a sign.” She answered, “I am not come to Poitiers to perform signs or miracles; my sign shall be to raise the siege of Orleans. Let me have men-at-arms, few or many, and I will go.” The question of her inspiration was made to depend on the test of her virginity. The duchess of Anjou, the king’s mother-in-law, accomplished the ridiculous examination, with the aid of some ladies, to the honour of the Maid. Some Franciscans who had been sent to her native place to collect information, brought back the most satisfactory accounts. There was no more time to be lost. Orleans was crying out for help; Dunois was sending message upon message. The Maid was equipped, and a sort of establishment was formed for her. First of all they gave her for squire John Daulon, a brave knight of mature years, who belonged to the count de Dunois, and was the most respectable among his followers. She had also a noble page, two heralds-at-arms, a seneschal, and two valets; her brother, Pierre Darc, had also joined her suite. John Pasquerel, a friar, hermit of the order of St. Augustin, was assigned her for confessor. _The Deliverance of Orleans (1429 A.D.)_ [Sidenote: [1429 A.D.]]