“Dear Maid,” he said, “I will go whenever you––” Robert le Macon interposed softly:
“When the roads are clear between here and Reims. Your Majesty. It would not be wise to risk your person on an uncertainty.”
“Let me clear the road, noble Dauphin,” exclaimed the maiden quickly. “I beseech you, out of your grace to grant me leave to do it.”
“There still remain the strong places on the Loire which will have to be broken up,” remarked the King dubiously.
“They can be broken up. Then you can march.”
“Well, you have our permission to do it, Jeanne,” said the monarch, half laughing. “Never was there such an indefatigable little soldier!”
“When may I begin, sire?” Jeanne’s delight was plainly evident. The delay was over; action might begin. No wonder she rejoiced.
“As soon as you please,” Charles told her graciously.
Joyously the girl left the room, and began immediately the task of gathering the army together; the army that had been forced to disband through the inertia of its King. A tide of popular enthusiasm arose as soon as it became known that the English towns on the Loire were to be attacked, and from all quarters came men eager to fight, with or without pay; beginning again to hope for their country and aroused by the Maid’s exploits before Orléans. Selles, a town of Berri, about fifteen miles from Loches and about fifty miles south of Orléans, was chosen for the recruiting camp.