He gazed long and earnestly at the Maid, who stood beside him,
flinching neither from his hollow gaze, nor from the more open
curiosity or admiration bestowed upon her by the lords and ladies
assembled out of desire to see her. I doubt me if she gave them a
thought. She had come to see the sick Duke, and her thoughts were
for him alone.
There was something very strange and beautiful in her aspect as she
stood there. Her face was pale from her vigil and fast; her hair
hung round it in a dark waving mass, that lighted up at the edges
with gold where the light touched it. Her simple boy's dress was
splashed and travel stained; but her wonderful serene composure was
as marked here as it had been throughout. No fears or tremors shook
her, nor did any sort of consciousness of self or of the
strangeness of her position come to mar the gentle dignity of her
mien or the calm loveliness of her face.
The Duke raised himself on his elbow the better to look at her.
"Is this true what I have heard of you, that you are the Maid of
Lorraine, raised up, according to the word of the wizard Merlin, to
save France in the hour of her extremity?"
"I am come to save France from the English," she answered at once;
"to drive them from the city of Orleans, to bring the Dauphin to
Rheims, and there see the crown set upon his head.
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