Epitaph for Three Women (29 page)

‘I would stake my life on her honesty,’ said Jean de Metz.

‘You are over ready to stake your life, my good fellow. Make sure. Get the Curé to make a test before you commit yourself. Then take her. There will be no harm done and it may be that the Dauphin will consent to see her.’

In due course Baudricourt persuaded them that at least Jeannette should be put to the test and consequently the Curé visited the Royer household and in the room which Jeannette occupied confronted her in all the vestments of his office, holding the cross before him. He commanded her to come forward if she were indeed virtuous. This Jeannette did and convinced them that she had no traffic with the Devil as she was able to approach the priest and take the cross in her hands and kiss it.

While she was waiting to leave, a summons came from the Duke of Lorraine in Nancy. She was overjoyed. Her fame had travelled before her and now the Duke of Lorraine himself had sent an escort to bring her to him.

She set out at once and was full of hope when she reached the ducal castle in Nancy and was told that the Duke was all impatience to see her. She was taken immediately to his apartments. She had never been in such sumptuously decorated rooms. Indeed she had never imagined there could be such grandeur in the world. The Duke was a very important man and could take her immediately to the Dauphin.

She was led into an apartment hung with rich velvets and there seated on an ornate chair was the shrivelled figure of the Duke. He was wrapped in a cloak of purple velvet and seated on a stool; at his feet was a woman, the immodesty of whose attire shocked Jeannette so utterly that she was for a moment speechless.

‘You are the maid who is known as Jeannette d’Arc?’ said the Duke. His voice was the softest and most melodious Jeannette had ever heard but her spirits were drooping lower at every moment. This man – Duke though he might be – did not have the air of one who would lead a crusade.

‘You have magical powers, I hear,’ went on the Duke. ‘News of you has travelled here to Nancy.’

Jeannette had found her voice. ‘My Lord Duke,’ she cried, ‘I have no powers save those given me by Heaven. I am sent with a purpose and that is to take the Dauphin to Rheims and there have him crowned.’

The Duke did not seem to be listening.

‘I am no longer young,’ he said. ‘Ah, how I miss my youth.’

‘My lord,’ said Jeannette, ‘I see that you would be unable to lead me to Chinon. But you have a son-in-law, I know, René of Anjou, the great Duke of Bar.’

The Duke looked testy. ‘What is the wench talking about?’ he asked.

The woman on the stool was laughing, and Jeannette said: ‘My Lady Duchess …’

‘The Duchess has gone,’ she said. ‘He could not endure her pious ways. I’m Duchess here now. He’s getting old, you see. That’s why he has sent for you. He wants to be able to frolic like he used to. You understand?’

Jeannette recoiled in horror. She thought of the weary journey to Nancy and she knew it had been in vain.

‘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.

On his advice they set out at dawn and he had sent a message on to the Abbey of Saint Urbain to tell the Abbot to expect them. Oh yes, undoubtedly they had the goodwill of Baudricourt.

So, riding between Poulengy and Jean de Metz, Jeannette rode out of Vaucouleurs on her way to see the Dauphin at Chinon.

Colet de Vienne and the archer Richard rode at the back of the little cavalcade.

They whispered together.

‘Have you any doubt?’ asket Colet de Vienne. ‘She is a witch. How else could a simple peasant girl have come so far? It’s as clear as fields in the sunshine.’

‘It is clear,’ agreed Richard.

‘Shall we be laughed to scorn for taking a witch to Chinon? And I tell you this: when she is known for a witch … for how would she stand the tests … shall we be accused with her as accomplices?’

‘Nay, we should take care.’

‘Poulengy and Jean de Metz guard her day and night.’

‘They sleep.’

‘With her between them.’

‘Maybe they share her favours.’

‘And why shouldn’t we?’

‘I have a plan. Let us try the witch first. She’s young enough to make it pleasant. And if she’s a virgin so much the better.’

‘She’s no virgin. Witches must all consort with the Devil before they become his own.’

‘Well, then, why shouldn’t we share in the fun? We’ll take her one dark night … creep up when her guards are sleeping. Smother her so that they don’t hear her cries.’

‘And afterwards?’

‘We’ll strangle her and throw her in a ditch.’

‘Perhaps get her accused of witchcraft. They burn them alive for that.’

‘And there’ll be glory for us for having discovered her true nature.’

‘A reward, do you think?’

‘They say they are talking of her in Orléans. She is one of their new miracles.’

‘I say she comes from the Devil. Tonight, then. When they’re sleeping.’

‘Tonight,’ agreed Richard.