Had she
urged them now, I am not sure but what they would have given her
her way; but she did not. She put her white velvet cap, with its
nodding plumes, upon her head, and taking with her the chiefest of
the generals and her own immediate retinue, she made the tour of
the walls and defences of the city, showing such a marvellous
insight into the tactics of war that she astonished all by her
remarks and by her injunctions.
Suddenly, as we were walking onwards, she paused and lifted her
face with a wonderful rapt expression upon it. Then she turned to
Dunois, and said with quiet authority:
"Mon General, I must ask of you to take a small body of picked men,
and ride forth towards Blois, and see what bechances there. I trow
there is trouble among the men. Traitors are at work to daunt their
hearts. Go and say that the Maid bids them fear nothing, and that
they shall enter Orleans in safety. The English shall not be
suffered to touch them. Go at once!"
"In broad daylight, lady, and before the very eyes of the foe?"
"Yes, yes," she answered instantly; "I will stand here and watch
you.
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