The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2France, Anatole
History
The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2
France, Anatole
Joan, of Arc, Saint, 1412-1431
But Jeanne addressing my Lord d'Harcourt said: "I understand what you
desire to know and I will tell you willingly."
And straightway she gave the King to understand what agony she endured
at not being understood and she told of her inward consolation:
"Whenever I am sad because what I say by command of Messire is not
readily believed, I go apart and to Messire I make known my complaint,
saying that those to whom I speak are not willing to believe me. And
when I have finished my prayer, straightway I hear a voice saying unto
me: 'Daughter of God, go, I will be thy help.' And this voice fills me
with so great a joy, that in this condition I would forever
stay."[1146]
[Footnote 1146: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 12 (evidence of Dunois).]
While she was repeating the words spoken by the Voice, Jeanne raised
her eyes to heaven. The nobles present were struck by the divine
expression on the maiden's face. But those eyes bathed in tears, that
air of rapture, which filled my Lord the Bastard with amazement, was
not an ecstasy, it was the imitation of an ecstasy.[1147] The scene
was at once simple and artificial. It reveals the kindness of the
King, who was incapable of wounding the child in any way, and the
light-heartedness with which the nobles of the court believed or
pretended to believe in the most wonderful marvels. It proves likewise
that henceforth the little Saint's dignifying the project of the
coronation with the authority of a divine revelation was favourably
regarded by the Royal Council.
[Footnote 1147: _Ibid._, p. 12.]
The Maid accompanied the King to Loches and stayed with him until
after the 23rd of May.[1148]
[Footnote 1148: _Ibid._, p. 116, vol. iv, p. 245.]
The people believed in her. As she passed through the streets of
Loches they threw themselves before her horse; they kissed the Saint's
hands and feet. Maitre Pierre de Versailles, a monk of Saint-Denys in
France, one of her interrogators at Poitiers, seeing her receive these
marks of veneration, rebuked her on theological grounds: "You do
wrong," he said, "to suffer such things to which you are not entitled.
Take heed: you are leading men into idolatry."
Then Jeanne, reflecting on the pride which might creep into her heart,
said: "In truth I could not keep from it, were not Messire watching
over me."[1149]
[Footnote 1149: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 84.]
She was displeased to see certain old wives coming to salute her; that
was a kind of adoration which alarmed her. But poor folk who came to
her she never repulsed. She would not hurt them, but aided them as far
as she could.[1150]
[Footnote 1150: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 102.]
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