When Hauviette came to the cottage to spin with her, she chatted merrily all the time and did not notice Jeannette’s silence. When it grew dark the young girl asked if she might stay the night as she used to. She had told her parents she would and even though she had not far to go to her home it was advisable for her not to be out after dark in case some marauding bear showed his face.

The two girls lay on Jeannette’s narrow pallet and Jeannette tried to explain how angels and saints had come to her and told her she was chosen for a great task.

Hauviette listened rather drowsily, and after a while she began to murmur something unintelligible. Jeannette realised then that she was half asleep and that she had thought Jeannette was telling her a story about a saint who had the same name as herself. Hauviette did not really believe that Jeannette, whom she had known all her life, could really be like Saint Margaret or Saint Catherine.

She would tell no one. No one would believe her in any case.

A few days later a visitor came to Domrémy. This was a member of the family for whom Jeannette had always had a special friendship. Durand Laxart was some sixteen years older than she was and had married her cousin Jeanne le Vauseul. Jeanne was the daughter of Zabillet’s sister Aveline, and Durand had known Jeannette since she was a baby. He had been attracted by her because even then she had seemed apart from the other children. He used to carry her on his shoulders and walk through the fields with her, cut whistles for her out of wood and tell her the names of the birds and the trees.

Durand sat round the fire and talked of what was happening in Petit-Burey where he lived with his wife and her parents. They had suffered in the same way as Domrémy and like those of that village were haunted by the shadow of war. Durand was not so very frequent a visitor because Petit-Burey was five miles from Domrémy and although that was not so very far it did mean travelling ten miles if the visit was to be made in one day only.

He told them that Zabillet’s sister Aveline was pregnant and that was a piece of news for them to discuss endlessly. When Zabillet was alone with Durand she told him that she was a little concerned about Jeannette.

‘Her father is worried about her too,’ said Zabillet. ‘She is not like other girls of her age.’

‘She never was,’ said Durand.

‘She spends so much time in the church in prayer. I believe she is there when she should be tending the flocks or tilling the ground. She neglects her work … It is not that she is lazy … and there is a strange look about her.’

Durand thought he would try to find out and when he saw Jeannette going into the church he followed her and there he found her kneeling before the statue of the Virgin. He stood waiting for her and when she came out he noticed the look of exultation on her face.

‘Jeannette,’ he said. ‘What has happened to you?’

She looked at him and said simply: ‘God has spoken to me through the Archangel Michael and His saints.’

‘Tell me about it,’ said Durand.

So she told him and he listened intently. He was the first who had taken her seriously.

‘I am chosen,’ she said. ‘I have been told.’

He was thoughtful as they went back. Suddenly, as though on impulse, she said to him: ‘Durand, you would help me, would you not?’

‘If it were possible, with all my heart,’ he assured her.

When they returned to the house it was to hear that there was a message from Colin. Catherine had become very ill and wished to see them all.

They left at once for Greux and there lying on her pallet, so pale and small that she seemed almost to have wasted away, lay Catherine.

There was little they could do but mourn. Poor Colin had lost all his gaiety. He was just a bewildered boy. He stood staring at the figure on the bed as though trying to convince himself that this was the girl with whom he had danced round L’Arbre des Dames and whom he had married in the church of Saint Rémy not so long ago.

Jeannette was stricken. She forgot everything but that she had lost a beloved sister. She even forgot her voices.

She could not stay in the stricken house but wandered out into the patch of garden which was close by and as she did so the voices came to her.

The Archangel Michael appeared to her and the two saints were with him. They were looking at her with compassion and she knew that she must not grieve for earthly losses, for this day Catherine would be with her Father in heaven.

‘Daughter of France,’ said a voice, ‘you must leave your village and make your way into France. Take your standard from the hands of the King of Heaven. Carry it with courage and God will help you.’

She was trembling. The voices were telling her she must act, and she did not know how to.

Then the Archangel Michael spoke to her.

‘You shall lead the Dauphin into Rheims and there he shall be crowned,’ he told her.

She covered her face with her hands for a few moments. Her heart was filled with sudden terror. This was something beyond her imaginings. She could preserve her virginity; she could die for her faith; but how could she, a country girl, go to the Dauphin?

‘You must go to Captain Baudricourt in Vaucouleurs and in time – though not at first – he will give you guides to take you to the Dauphin.’

The brightness had gone; the voices faded away and she was alone.

Had she heard aright? Go to the Dauphin? Go to Captain Baudricourt? She had heard his name and she knew that he was in charge of the garrison at Vaucouleurs. But how could she go to him?


* * *

It was a sad day when they buried Catherine. Jeannette walked with her brothers and her parents behind the coffin when they carried it into the church.

Durand Laxart was with them. He could not stop looking at Jeannette.

She looks so frail and ill, he thought. She will be the next.

When Catherine was buried Jeannette went into the fields and listened for the voices. They came again and repeated that she had been chosen by Heaven to stop the senseless war, to drive the English out of France and crown the true King at Rheims. Her first task was to go to Captain de Baudricourt and though he would not listen to her at first, she must persevere and she would succeed in the end.

How? How? Jeannette asked.

She must be good, was the answer, and it would come to pass.

When she returned to the house Durand was with her parents and her mother said to her: ‘Durand thinks you should go and stay with him and Jeanne for a while. He thinks the change would do you good. Your Aunt Aveline will be feeling her condition. She is no longer young and child-bearing can be a strain at her age. It will be good to have an extra pair of hands to help in the house.’

Durand was looking at her intently. ‘What say you, Jeannette?’ he asked.

A great exultation came over her. She thought, Heaven has put this chance in my way.

So when Durand Laxart left Domrémy, Jeannette went with him, riding on the back of his mare, and while they journeyed across the five miles which separated Domrémy from Petit-Burey, Jeannette told him of her gratitude to him for his kindness in taking her away.

She would have to broach the subject of his taking her to Captain de Baudricourt very cautiously. Although he was sympathetic he would not perhaps go as far as that. She realised that to go to this worldly captain and tell him that she had heard voices commanding her to take the Dauphin to Rheims and there have him crowned would most certainly arouse his ridicule.

But she had taken the first faltering steps towards her goal, and she had been warned that it would be difficult. But she felt less frightened now. The steps must be slowly and cautiously taken – and Heaven would help her.

There was work to be done in the home of the le Vauseuls where Durand and his wife Jeanne lived with Aunt Aveline and her husband. Aunt Aveline was delighted to see Jeannette, for not only was the girl a good worker but she had always been a favourite of hers.

Jeannette was prepared to help all she could and she found that there was much less to be done here than at home in Domrémy. There were also opportunities to talk to Durand, and make him aware of the enormity of this thing which had happened to her.

At first he was incredulous, but so eloquent was she and with such natural simplicity did she explain, that gradually she began to convince him and he felt the reflection of her ecstasy. She reminded him of Merlin’s prophecy that the country would be ruined by a woman and delivered by one who would be a young virgin.

Could it possibly be that the one chosen for this mission was a member of their family – a humble peasant girl like Jeannette who had never even learned to read and write?

Jeannette had been right when she had believed that if anyone would help her that one would be Durand.

So Durand was at length persuaded to take her to Vaucouleurs. There had to be a reason, of course, and Jeannette and Durand put their heads together and tried to concoct one. Jeannette must see Captain de Baudricourt, implied Durand, in some connection with the protection money which was paid to Robert of Saarbrück and as it was unseemly for a young girl to go so far alone Durand would take her there …

It was the month of May when Durand and Jeannette set out. Jeannette was exultant. The countryside was at its best. The fields were bright with daisies, buttercups, and little black and white lambs sported with their mothers while young girls like Jeannette herself watched over them.

On a gentle slope the little town of Vaucouleurs spread out before them. At the top of a hill was the castle, and it was to this fortress, the main defence of the town, that Durand and Jeannette made their way. The sentries were alert for there could never be any knowing when the enemy would be sighted but the countryman and the young girl with him aroused little attention. They were able to enter the castle and made their way to the Great Hall where Captain de Baudricourt was at that very time conducting the business of the garrison. Many people were passing through the great hall and not only soldiers; there were several citizens who had business to conduct and soldiers and messengers from the various parts of the country. Jeannette looked about her eagerly and she had no difficulty whatsoever in picking out Robert de Baudricourt. It seemed to her that the Voices were close and that they whispered to her: ‘That is the man you are to see.’

Fearlessly Jeannette approached him.

‘I am sent to you by Messire,’ she said, ‘that you may send to the Dauphin and tell him to hold himself ready, but not to give battle to his enemies at this time.’

She did not know why she said those words except that she was prompted to say them.

Robert de Baudricourt was staring at her. He could not believe he had heard correctly. He was very much a man of the world, a life of soldiering had made him so. He was a little sharper than most of his kind and like most he was for all the profit he could get. He was a rich man. He had married twice and on both occasions had had the good fortune or good sense to choose wealthy women, and he made sure that he profited from his battles even as his marriages; he had a quick wit and a lively humour which had carried him far. Moreover he was a good soldier and although he could only think that the chances of driving the English out of the country were poor, he was loyal to the Dauphin.

For a few moments he was speechless. He looked incredulously at the young peasant girl in her shabby red skirt and blouse, and wondered what she was talking about. She sounded mad. But she had a certain radiance about her which made him pause for a moment before shooing her away.

‘Who are you?’ he demanded.

‘I have been chosen,’ she told him. ‘I am Jeannette d’Arc.’

‘And what is it you say?’

‘That I am a messenger from Messire who instructs that the Dauphin is to remain defensive and not yet go out to face the enemy. Assistance will come to him from Messire, and his anointing will follow.’

Baudricourt cried out: ‘Messire! Messire! Who is this Messire?’

‘It is the King of Heaven,’ answered Jeannette simply.

Baudricourt was even more astounded. ‘Who are you?’ he demanded of Durand.

‘I am her cousin, my lord. I have brought her to Vaucouleurs to see you.’