My voices have bidden me
what to do. I am to assume the dress of a boy, since I must needs
live for a while amongst soldiers and men. I am sent to do a man's
work, therefore in the garb of a man must I set forth. Our good
citizens of Vaucouleurs are already busy with the dress I must
shortly assume. There is none other in which my work can be so well
accomplished."
And in truth we saw at once the sense of her words. She had before
her a toilsome journey in the companionship of men. She must needs
ride, since there was no other way of travelling possible; and why
should the frailest and tenderest of the party be burdened by a
dress that would incommode her at every turn?
And when upon the very next day she appeared in the Castle yard in
the hose and doublet and breeches of a boy, and asked of us to give
her her first lesson in horsemanship, all our doubts and misgivings
fled away. She wore her dress with such grace, such ease, such
simplicity, that it seemed at once the right and fitting thing; and
not one of the soldiers in the courtyard who watched her feats that
day, passed so much as a rude jest upon her, far less offered her
any insult.
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