Part 20 (2/2)

[Footnote 440: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 54; vol. ii, p. 437. _Chronique du Mont-Saint-Michel_, vol. i, p. 30. De Boismarmin, _Memoire sur la date de l'arrivee de Jeanne d'Arc a Chinon_, in the _Bulletin du comite des travaux historiques et scientifiques_, 1892, pp. 350-359. Ulysse Chevalier, _L'abjuration de Jeanne d'Arc_, p. 10, note 1. Jeanne had returned to Vaucouleurs about the first Sunday in Lent, the 13th of February, 1429 (_Trial_, vol. iii, p. 437). Bertrand de Poulengy says that the journey to Chinon (6th March) lasted eleven days, and that sometimes they travelled by night only (_ibid._). It is difficult to admit that they started from Vaucouleurs on the 23rd of February, and that about 660 kilometres were traversed in eleven days.]

A few friends who had followed her so far watched her go. Among them were her hosts, Henri Leroyer and Catherine, and Messire Jean Colin, canon of Saint-Nicolas, near Vaucouleurs, to whom Jeanne had confessed several times.[441] They trembled for their saint as they thought of the perils of the way and the length of the journey.

[Footnote 441: _Trial_, vol. ii, pp. 431, 446.]

”How can you,” they asked her, ”set forth on such a journey when there are men-at-arms on every hand?” But out of the serene peace of her heart she answered them:

”I do not fear men-at-arms; my way has been made plain before me. If there be men-at-arms my Lord G.o.d will make a way for me to go to my Lord Dauphin. For that am I come.”[442]

[Footnote 442: _Ibid._, p. 449.]

Sire Robert was present at her departure. According to the customary formula he took an oath from each of the men-at-arms that they would surely and safely conduct her whom he confided to them. Then, being a man of little faith, he said to Jeanne in lieu of farewell: ”Go! and come what may.”[443] And the little company went off into the mist, which at that season envelops the meadows of the Meuse.

[Footnote 443: _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 55.]

They were obliged to avoid frequented roads and to beware especially of pa.s.sing by Joinville, Montiers-en-Saulx and Sailly, where there were soldiers of the hostile party. Sire Bertrand and Jean de Metz were accustomed to such stealthy expeditions; they knew the byways and were acquainted with useful precautions, such as binding up the horses' feet in linen so as to deaden the sound of hoofs on the ground.[444]

[Footnote 444: De Pimodan, _La premiere etape de Jeanne d'Arc_, Paris, 1891, in 8vo, with maps.]

At nightfall, having escaped all danger, the company approached the right bank of the Marne and reached the Abbey of Saint-Urbain.[445]

From time immemorial it had been a place of refuge, and in those days its abbot was Arnoult of Aulnoy, a kinsman of Robert of Baudricourt.[446] The gate of the plain edifice opened for the travellers who pa.s.sed beneath the groined vaulting of its roof.[447]

The abbey included a building set apart for strangers. There they found the resting-place of the first stage of their journey.

[Footnote 445: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 54.]

[Footnote 446: Jolibois, _Dictionnaire historique de la Haute-Marne_, p. 492.]

[Footnote 447: De Pimodan, _La premiere etape de Jeanne d'Arc_, _loc.

cit._]

On the right of the outer door was the abbey church wherein were preserved the relics of Pope Saint Urbain. On the 24th of February, in the morning, Jeanne attended conventual ma.s.s there.[448] Then she and her companions took horse again. Crossing the Marne by the bridge opposite Saint-Urbain, they pressed on towards France.

[Footnote 448: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 54, 55.]

They had still one hundred and twenty-five leagues to cover and three rivers to cross, in a country infested with brigands. Through fear of the enemy they journeyed by night.[449] When they lay down on the straw the damsel, keeping her hose laced to her coat, slept in her clothes, under a covering, between Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy in whom she felt confidence. They said afterwards that they never desired the damsel because of the holiness they beheld in her;[450] that may or may not be believed.

[Footnote 449: _Ibid._, vol. iii, p. 437. According to the somewhat improbable testimony of Bertrand de Poulengy. _See ante_, p. 96, note 6.]

[Footnote 450: _Trial_, vol. ii, p. 457.]

Jean de Metz was filled with no such ardent faith in the prophetess, since he inquired of her: ”Will you really do what you say?”

To which she replied: ”Have no fear. I do what I am commanded to do.

My brethren in Paradise tell me what I have to do. It is now four or five years since my brethren in Paradise and Messire told me that I must go forth to war to deliver the realm of France.”[451]

[Footnote 451: _Ibid._, pp. 437, 438.]

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