第39章 HOW NORMAN LESLIE WAS OUT OF ALL COMFORT(4)

This tale was the common talk in Chinon,which I heard very gladly,taking pleasure in the strangeness of it.And in the good fortune of the Maid I was yet more joyful,both for her own sake and for Elliot's,to whom she was so dear.But,for my own part,the leeches gave me little comfort,saying that I might in no manner set forth with the rest,for that I could not endure to march on foot,but must die by the way.

Poor comfort was this for me,who must linger in garrison while the fortune of France was on the cast of the dice,and my own fortune was to be made now or never.So it chanced that one day I was loitering in the gateway,watching the soldiers,who were burnishing armour,sharpening swords,and all as merry and busy as bees in spring.Then to me comes my master,with a glad countenance,and glad was I,for these eight days or nine I had no tidings of him,and knew not if Elliot had returned from pilgrimage.I rose to greet him,and he took my hand,bidding me be of good cheer,for that he had good tidings.But what his news might be he would not tell me;I must come with him,he said,to his house.

All about his door there was much concourse of people,and among them two archers led a great black charger,fairly caparisoned,and covered with a rich silk hucque of colour cramoisie,adorned with lilies of silver.As I marvelled who the rider might be,conceiving that he was some great lord,the door of my master's house opened,and there,within,and plain to view,was Elliot embracing a young knight;and over his silver armour fell her yellow hair,covering gorget and rere-brace.Then my heart stood still,my lips opened but gave no cry,when,lo!the knight kissed her and came forth,all in shining armour,but unhelmeted.Then I saw that this was no knight,but the Maid herself,boden in effeir of war,{23}and so changed from what she had been that she seemed a thing divine.If St.Michael had stepped down from a church window,leaving the dragon slain,he would have looked no otherwise than she,all gleaming with steel,and with grey eyes full of promise of victory:

the holy sword girdled about her,and a little battle-axe hanging from her saddle-girth.She sprang on her steed,from the mounting-stone beside the door,and so,waving her hand,she cried farewell to Elliot,that stood gazing after her with shining eyes.The people went after the Maid some way,shouting Noel!and striving to kiss her stirrup,the archers laughing,meanwhile,and bidding them yield way.And so we came,humbly enough,into the house,where,her father being present and laughing and the door shut,Elliot threw her arms about me and wept and smiled on my breast.

"Ah,now I must lose you again,"she said;whereat I was half glad that she prized me so;half sorry,for that I knew I might not go forth with the host.This ill news I gave them both,we now sitting quietly in the great chamber.

"Nay,thou shalt go,"said Elliot."Is it not so,father?For the Maid gave her promise ere she went to Poictiers,and now she is fulfilling it.For the gentle King has given her a household--pages,and a maitre d'hotel,a good esquire,and these two gentlemen who rode with her from Vaucouleurs,and an almoner,Brother Jean Pasquerel,an Augustine,that the Maid's mother sent with us from Puy,for we found her there.And the Maid has appointed you to go with her,for that you took her part when men reviled her.And money she has craved from the King;and Messire Aymar de Puiseux,that was your adversary,is to give you a good horse,for that you may not walk.And,above all,the Maid has declared to me that she will bring you back to us unscathed of sword,but,for herself,she shall be wounded by an arrow under Orleans,yet shall she not die,but be healed of that wound,and shall lead the King to his sacring at Rheims.So now,verily,for you I have no fear,but my heart is sore for the Maid's sake,and her wound."None the less,she made as if she would dance for joy,and I could have done as much,not,indeed,that as then I put my faith in prophecies,but for gladness that I was to take my fortune in the wars.So the hours passed in great mirth and good cheer.Many things we spoke of,as concerning the mother of the Maid--how wise she was,yet in a kind of amazement,and not free from fear,wherefore she prayed constantly for her child.

Moreover Elliot told me that the jackanapes was now hers of right,for that the woman,its owner,had been at Puy,but without her man,and had sold it to her,as to a good mistress,yet with tears at parting.This news was none of the gladdest to me,for still Ifeared that tidings of us might come to Brother Thomas.Howbeit,at last,with a light heart,though I was leaving Elliot,I went back to the castle.There Aymar de Puiseux,meeting me,made me the best countenance,and gave me a right good horse,that I named Capdorat after him,by his good will.And for my armour,which must needs be light,they gave me a maillet--a coat of slender mail,which did not gall my old wound.So accoutred,I departed next day,in good company,to Blois,whence the Maid was to set forth to Orleans.

Marvel it was to find the road so full of bestial--oxen,cows,sheep,and swine--all gathered,as if to some great market,for the victualling of Orleans.But how they were to be got through the English lines into the city men knew not.For the English,by this time,had girdled the city all about with great bastilles,each joined to other by sunken ways dug in the earth,wherein were streets,and marts,and chambers with fires and chimneys,as I have written in my Latin chronicle.{24}There false Frenchmen came,as to a fair,selling and buying,with store of food,wine,arms,and things of price,buying and selling in safety,for the cannon and couleuvrines in the town could not touch them.But a word ran through the host how the Maid knew,by inspiration of the saints,that no man should sally forth from among the English,but that we should all pass unharmed.