“I have sent a letter to the priests there at Saint Catherine’s asking if I may have it,” she said. “I told them that it would be found buried in the earth behind the altar. The messenger should return with it to-day.”
“If it be there,” he remarked, half laughing.
“It will be, fair Dauphin,” returned the girl instantly, with the perfect faith in her revelations that was her strength.
“But how will they know that it is the sword that you mean?” he questioned.
“There will be five crosses on the handle,” said Jeanne.
The King dropped the subject for the time being, but he resolved to watch to see if the sword were found where the maiden said that it would be. He had indorsed her, but he welcomed further proof of her inspiration. Alençon, La Trémouille and Queen Yolande were with him beside the peasant 199 maiden, and these were listening with great interest to Jeanne’s words. And now the favorite spoke, voicing the thought that was in Charles’s mind:
“I should like to see this mystic sword, your Majesty,” he said, his tones reflecting his scepticism.
The monarch smiled at his favorite without replying, but Alençon, detecting the underlying mockery, exclaimed with some heat:
“By St. Martin! if the Pucelle says that the sword is under the altar at Saint Catherine’s, it is there. And who denies it shall answer to me.”
“Gently, my cousin, gently,” spoke Charles lazily. “There will be time enough for private quarrel after Orléans. ’Tis not doubt that made La Trémouille so speak, but a natural desire to witness the marvel.”