Vol. I
| [Joan of Arc] From a painting by Deruet. | Frontispiece |
| To face page | |
| [House of Joan of Arc at Domremy in 1419] | [12] |
| [View of Orléans, 1428-1429] | [106] |
| [Plan of Orléans] | [258] |
| [Charles VII] From an old engraving. | [444] |
JOAN OF ARC
CHAPTER I
CHILDHOOD
ROM Neufchâteau to Vaucouleurs the clear waters of the Meuse flow freely between banks covered with rows of poplar trees and low bushes of alder and willow. Now they wind in sudden bends, now in gradual curves, for ever breaking up into narrow streams, and then the threads of greenish waters gather together again, or here and there are suddenly lost to sight underground. In the summer the river is a lazy stream, barely bending in its course the reeds which grow upon its shallow bed; and from the bank one may watch its lapping waters kept back by clumps of rushes scarcely covering a little sand and moss. But in the season of heavy rains, swollen by sudden torrents, deeper and more rapid, as it rushes along, it leaves behind it on the banks a kind of dew, which rises in pools of clear water on a level with the grass of the valley.