Thankfulness, peace, and happiness shone in the eyes of the Maid as
she rode; but there was a nearer and more personal joy in store for
her; for as we passed through the town, with many pauses on account
of the greatness of the throng, pouring in and out of the churches
(for it was the vigil of the Madelaine), or crowding about the King
and the Maid, she chanced to lift her eyes to the windows of an inn
in the place, and behold her face kindled with a look different
from any I had seen there before, and she looked around for me, and
beckoning with her hand, she pointed upwards, and cried in tones of
strange delight and exultation:
"My father, fair knight, my father! I saw his face!"
Now, I knew that Jacques d'Arc had been greatly set against his
daughter's mission, and it had been declared that he had disowned
her, and would have withheld her from going forth, had such a thing
been within his power. She had never received any message of love
or forgiveness from him all these weeks, though her two younger
brothers had joined the army, and were always included in her
household.
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