‘My good girl, I reckon you’ve got the wrong idea of my lord’s desire,’ went on the woman. ‘All he wants is to be young again. He was sure you could do it. He thought you were some sort of fortune teller … someone with special powers.’ She stood up, then bent over and put her lips to the Duke’s ear.
‘She can do nothing. She just wants to go to the Dauphin.’
‘She’s mad,’ said the Duke. ‘She’s come here under false pretences.’
‘The pretences were on your part,’ said Jeannette. ‘My time has been wasted. Now I need an escort back to Vaucouleurs without delay.’
‘Get you gone and don’t bother me,’ said the Duke. ‘You come here pretending you could make me young again …’
‘I did nothing of the sort,’ said Jeannette. ‘It is you who have wasted my time and God’s.’
‘Get out of my sight,’ muttered the Duke.
The woman whispered something to him which sounded as though she were warning him.
Weary and bitterly disillusioned, blaming herself for her simplicity in being so easily duped, Jeannette emerged from the castle to find a groom waiting for her with a black horse. The Duke was giving it to her to ease her journey and there was a purse containing four francs to help defray the cost of it.
Jeannette was about to refuse when one of the escort pointed out that the horse was a good one and she could ride that more comfortably than the one she had had before. Moreover the money might be useful to expedite their journey back to Vaucouleurs.
She rode back dismally wondering how many more trials she would have to overcome before she reached her goal.
As soon as she arrived in Vaucouleurs she went to see Robert de Baudricourt.
She was vehement in her denunciation of him.
‘You see how you have wasted my time. Because of you we have suffered another setback inside the walls of Orléans.’
‘What setback is this?’ he demanded, and she could not tell him.
Back at the wheelwright’s house Catherine Royer received her with great affection. She was greatly relieved to see her back safely.
‘Jeannette,’ she cried when she had assured herself that her friend was well, ‘I have news for you. Your parents have been here. They were deeply distressed.’
Jeannette’s eyes clouded with grief. ‘They will not understand,’ she said. ‘This is the hardest part for me to bear.’
‘They had heard that you had left Petit-Burey. They came here to find you. Your father was in a state of great despair. He seemed to think that you wanted to follow the army. I think your mother did understand in the end.’
‘What happened? Where are they now?’
‘They went back to Domrémy. I told them that I believed you were carrying out a mission from Heaven and that Durand believed it too. I said you were the purest girl I had ever known and your father the most mistaken of men.’
Jeannette laid her hands on Catherine’s shoulders and looking at her earnestly said: ‘They love me so dearly. That is what this means, Catherine. If they loved me less it would be easier for them.’
‘Your mother believes now that you are the chosen of God. I am sure of it. She tried to soothe your father. I think she made him see that you were no longer able to resist this call and that was why they decided to return.’
‘Oh, Catherine, how I wish I did not have to cause them pain. I must send word to them. But how? Oh, Catherine, why did I not learn to write and read? Perhaps if I had begged them to let me go to school they would have allowed it. You see, I never wanted to. It was almost as though I wanted only to allow myself to remain ignorant. And now … and now …’
‘There is the letter writer. He will write what you wish to say and it can be sent to your parents.’
‘Oh, Catherine, that is what I must do. And now … now … I feel a sense of urgency. Terrible things are happening in Orléans. I should be there … the Dauphin beside me, I know it, Catherine.’
‘Let us go at once to the letter writer. When that is off your mind you can make your plans.’
So they went to the letter writer.
What could she say to them? How could she make them understand? Who would believe in those voices which were so real to her? How could she explain to her father – that most
upright of men, but one who had never been guilty of flights of fancy? The nearest he had come to such a state was to believe in a dream of her following the soldiers to battle.
‘God has entrusted me with a mission. He has chosen me, dear father and mother, perhaps because I am a simple maid. It is easier for those who are simple to believe without question. I have seen choirs of angels. I have seen the Archangel himself. I have seen the saints. They are guiding me and even though it has meant causing you pain I must go on. Great men are beginning to agree with me. Captain de Baudricourt believes me; he will give me an escort to Chinon where I shall see the Dauphin. Other men of importance are with me. My dear parents, I beg you pardon me for the grief I have caused you and give me your blessing for it is something I ardently desire.’
She felt happier when that was sent to Domrémy and then she presented herself once more to Baudricourt.
He was clearly shaken. He said at once: ‘You told me that our army was facing another disaster. I have news of it. They are calling it the Battle of the Herrings. We had the greatest possible chance of diverting stores which the English badly needed. If we could have captured this convoy it would have been the end of the siege of Orléans. But once again a handful of Godons beat a far greater number of our best troops. There’s a curse on us it would seem. They have the Devil with them, these Godons.’
‘Never fear, my lord Captain. Soon we shall have God with us. But for the sake of His name, delay no longer. Give me my escort and let me leave for Chinon.’
He caught her arm suddenly. He was genuinely disturbed. To his amazement he found he had grown fond of her.
‘Jeannette,’ he said, ‘do you realise the dangers you will face travelling with rough soldiers?’
‘I am not afraid.’
He said: ‘You can trust Poulengy and Jean de Metz.’
‘I know this,’ she told him.
‘But no one else,’ he added.
She nodded.
They made their plans. It was better, said Poulengy, if they travel as merchants. They should not be in a large party of soldiers. There would be simply Poulengy and his servant, Jean de Metz and his; and with them would travel an archer named Richard and Colet de Vienne, who had come from Chinon at the request of Baudricourt, who wished to get some sort of permission from the Dauphin’s court before he allowed Jeannette to go to him.
It was Jean de Metz who pointed out that Jeannette could not travel dressed as she was. Somehow they had to convert the young maid into a boy.
‘The first thing,’ said Jean, ‘is her hair. That must immediately be sacrificed.’
Jeannette said willingly would she let it go, and in a short time her appearance was transformed. The thick dark hair lay at her feet and what was left looked like an upturned black basin on her head.
‘If you go into battle,’ said Jean, ‘you will now be able to wear the salade helmet and the high gorget.’
He found some clothes which had belonged to one of his servants. It was not easy to fit her for she was by no means tall, being just under five feet with the sturdy figure of a peasant. She wore a shirt, short trunks and long dark hose which could be fixed to her doublet. Over this she wore a cloak reaching to her knee. She wore long leather boots and looked like a young man, comfortably off but not wealthy.
‘She will need a sword,’ said Poulengy.
It was Baudricourt who gave her one and she knew that his blessing went with it. He hoped she would succeed. She understood him well. He wanted to help her, provided he did not jeopardise his future by doing so. Thus, she thought, it is with ambitious men.