One day as she went once more to talk to Baudricourt she came face to face with Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy.

‘Good day to you,’ said Bertrand, bowing with respect. ‘So you are back with us.’

‘What are you doing here in Vaucouleurs?’ asked Jean de Metz.

‘I have come to stop the King of France being driven from his throne and to save this country from the English. You may think my place is in my father’s cottage but it is the will of my Lord that I should be here.’

‘What Lord?’ asked Jean de Metz.

‘The Lord God,’ answered Jeannette.

‘I believe you,’ said Bertrand de Poulengy.

‘Thank you,’ said Jeanette and passed on.

There was another fruitless interview with Baudricourt. She went back to the wheelwright’s house in despair.

‘Durand,’ she said, ‘I shall go by myself because I see I shall find little satisfaction from Baudricourt. Will you come with me?’

Durand hesitated. He had come so far. He had left his home and brought her to Vaucouleurs. She would never make the journey to Chinon on her own, he pointed out. She needed an escort. Did she think the Dauphin would ever receive her if she arrived footsore and weary … a peasant girl? The project was doomed to failure. And he had been long from his family.

Then Jeannette had an idea. She remembered the two young men with whom she had spoken. She went to find them. They were together as though waiting for her.

‘Will you take me to the Dauphin?’ she asked.

‘When do you wish to start?’ asked Jean de Metz.

‘Today if possible. If not, tomorrow.’

‘We will take you,’ said Poulengy, ‘but we are under orders to Captain de Baudricourt and must first give him our resignations.’

‘When will you do that?’ asked Jeannette.

‘Now,’ said Jean de Metz. ‘Go back to your lodging and prepare.’

Jeannette obeyed and the two men went at once to Baudricourt. They told him of the conversation which had taken place and of their intentions.

Baudricourt looked at them solemnly. ‘You are rash, gentlemen,’ he said.

‘I swear this girl is a saint,’ retorted Poulengy.

‘I feel sure she is a good girl,’ said Baudricourt. ‘She has the outward guise of a good girl. But these guises could come from the devil. There is none who more than I would wish to see the siege of Orléans raised, the Dauphin crowned and the English driven back where they belong. But how do you know, gentlemen? How can you be sure?’

‘I would stake my life on her honesty,’ said Jean de Metz.

‘You are over ready to stake your life, my good fellow. Make sure. Get the Curé to make a test before you commit yourself. Then take her. There will be no harm done and it may be that the Dauphin will consent to see her.’

In due course Baudricourt persuaded them that at least Jeannette should be put to the test and consequently the Curé visited the Royer household and in the room which Jeannette occupied confronted her in all the vestments of his office, holding the cross before him. He commanded her to come forward if she were indeed virtuous. This Jeannette did and convinced them that she had no traffic with the Devil as she was able to approach the priest and take the cross in her hands and kiss it.

While she was waiting to leave, a summons came from the Duke of Lorraine in Nancy. She was overjoyed. Her fame had travelled before her and now the Duke of Lorraine himself had sent an escort to bring her to him.

She set out at once and was full of hope when she reached the ducal castle in Nancy and was told that the Duke was all impatience to see her. She was taken immediately to his apartments. She had never been in such sumptuously decorated rooms. Indeed she had never imagined there could be such grandeur in the world. The Duke was a very important man and could take her immediately to the Dauphin.

She was led into an apartment hung with rich velvets and there seated on an ornate chair was the shrivelled figure of the Duke. He was wrapped in a cloak of purple velvet and seated on a stool; at his feet was a woman, the immodesty of whose attire shocked Jeannette so utterly that she was for a moment speechless.

‘You are the maid who is known as Jeannette d’Arc?’ said the Duke. His voice was the softest and most melodious Jeannette had ever heard but her spirits were drooping lower at every moment. This man – Duke though he might be – did not have the air of one who would lead a crusade.

‘You have magical powers, I hear,’ went on the Duke. ‘News of you has travelled here to Nancy.’

Jeannette had found her voice. ‘My Lord Duke,’ she cried, ‘I have no powers save those given me by Heaven. I am sent with a purpose and that is to take the Dauphin to Rheims and there have him crowned.’

The Duke did not seem to be listening.

‘I am no longer young,’ he said. ‘Ah, how I miss my youth.’

‘My lord,’ said Jeannette, ‘I see that you would be unable to lead me to Chinon. But you have a son-in-law, I know, René of Anjou, the great Duke of Bar.’

The Duke looked testy. ‘What is the wench talking about?’ he asked.

The woman on the stool was laughing, and Jeannette said: ‘My Lady Duchess …’

‘The Duchess has gone,’ she said. ‘He could not endure her pious ways. I’m Duchess here now. He’s getting old, you see. That’s why he has sent for you. He wants to be able to frolic like he used to. You understand?’

Jeannette recoiled in horror. She thought of the weary journey to Nancy and she knew it had been in vain.

‘My good girl, I reckon you’ve got the wrong idea of my lord’s desire,’ went on the woman. ‘All he wants is to be young again. He was sure you could do it. He thought you were some sort of fortune teller … someone with special powers.’ She stood up, then bent over and put her lips to the Duke’s ear.

‘She can do nothing. She just wants to go to the Dauphin.’

‘She’s mad,’ said the Duke. ‘She’s come here under false pretences.’

‘The pretences were on your part,’ said Jeannette. ‘My time has been wasted. Now I need an escort back to Vaucouleurs without delay.’

‘Get you gone and don’t bother me,’ said the Duke. ‘You come here pretending you could make me young again …’

‘I did nothing of the sort,’ said Jeannette. ‘It is you who have wasted my time and God’s.’

‘Get out of my sight,’ muttered the Duke.

The woman whispered something to him which sounded as though she were warning him.

Weary and bitterly disillusioned, blaming herself for her simplicity in being so easily duped, Jeannette emerged from the castle to find a groom waiting for her with a black horse. The Duke was giving it to her to ease her journey and there was a purse containing four francs to help defray the cost of it.

Jeannette was about to refuse when one of the escort pointed out that the horse was a good one and she could ride that more comfortably than the one she had had before. Moreover the money might be useful to expedite their journey back to Vaucouleurs.

She rode back dismally wondering how many more trials she would have to overcome before she reached her goal.

As soon as she arrived in Vaucouleurs she went to see Robert de Baudricourt.

She was vehement in her denunciation of him.

‘You see how you have wasted my time. Because of you we have suffered another setback inside the walls of Orléans.’

‘What setback is this?’ he demanded, and she could not tell him.

Back at the wheelwright’s house Catherine Royer received her with great affection. She was greatly relieved to see her back safely.

‘Jeannette,’ she cried when she had assured herself that her friend was well, ‘I have news for you. Your parents have been here. They were deeply distressed.’

Jeannette’s eyes clouded with grief. ‘They will not understand,’ she said. ‘This is the hardest part for me to bear.’

‘They had heard that you had left Petit-Burey. They came here to find you. Your father was in a state of great despair. He seemed to think that you wanted to follow the army. I think your mother did understand in the end.’

‘What happened? Where are they now?’

‘They went back to Domrémy. I told them that I believed you were carrying out a mission from Heaven and that Durand believed it too. I said you were the purest girl I had ever known and your father the most mistaken of men.’

Jeannette laid her hands on Catherine’s shoulders and looking at her earnestly said: ‘They love me so dearly. That is what this means, Catherine. If they loved me less it would be easier for them.’

‘Your mother believes now that you are the chosen of God. I am sure of it. She tried to soothe your father. I think she made him see that you were no longer able to resist this call and that was why they decided to return.’

‘Oh, Catherine, how I wish I did not have to cause them pain. I must send word to them. But how? Oh, Catherine, why did I not learn to write and read? Perhaps if I had begged them to let me go to school they would have allowed it. You see, I never wanted to. It was almost as though I wanted only to allow myself to remain ignorant. And now … and now …’

‘There is the letter writer. He will write what you wish to say and it can be sent to your parents.’

‘Oh, Catherine, that is what I must do. And now … now … I feel a sense of urgency. Terrible things are happening in Orléans. I should be there … the Dauphin beside me, I know it, Catherine.’

‘Let us go at once to the letter writer. When that is off your mind you can make your plans.’

So they went to the letter writer.