CHAPTER I FRANCE IMPERISHABLE

THE SOUL OF JEANNE D'ARC

She came not into the Presence as a martyred saint might come,

Crowned, white-robed and adoring, with very reverence dumb—

She stood as a straight young soldier, confident, gallant, strong,

Who asks a boon of his captain in the sudden hush of the drum.

She said: "Now have I stayed too long in this my place of bliss,

With these glad dead that, comforted, forget what sorrow is