“Ah, I cannot, dear and noble Dauphin. To be allowed to work for France, to spend one’s self for France, is itself so supreme a reward that nothing can add to it—nothing. Give me the one reward I ask, the dearest of all rewards, the highest in your gift—march with me to Rheims and receive your crown. I will beg it on my knees.”
But the King put his hand on her arm, and there was a really brave awakening in his voice and a manly fire in his eye when he said:
“No, sit. You have conquered me—it shall be as you—”
But a warning sign from his minister halted him, and he added, to the relief of the court:
“Well, well, we will think of it, we will think it over and see. Does that content you, impulsive little soldier?”
The first part of the speech sent a glow of delight to Joan’s face, but the end of it quenched it and she looked sad, and the tears gathered in her eyes. After a moment she spoke out with what seemed a sort of terrified impulse, and said:
“Oh, use me; I beseech you, use me—there is but little time!”
“But little time?”
“Only a year—I shall last only a year.”
“Why, child, there are fifty good years in that compact little body yet.”