We were to have added witness to this in the days which
followed.
So here we were gathered at Selles upon that bright June morning,
just one month after the relief of Orleans. The King had presented
to the Maid a great black charger; a mighty creature of immense
strength and spirit, but with something of a wicked look in his
rolling eyes which made me anxious as he was led forward. The Maid
in her white armour--its rent deftly mended, its silver brilliance
fully restored--with her velvet white-plumed cap upon her head and
a little axe in her hand, stood waiting to mount. But perhaps it
was the gleaming whiteness of this slender figure that startled the
horse, or else the cries and shouts of the populace at sight of the
Maid excited him to the verge of terror; for he reared and plunged
so madly as his rider approached that it was with difficulty he was
held by two stalwart troopers, and we all begged of the Maid not to
trust herself upon his back.
She looked at us with a smile, and made a little courteous gesture
with her hand; then turning to the attendants she said:
"Lead him yonder to the cross at the entrance to the church; I will
mount him there.
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