And this was the man who was to meet us at Tours, form his impression of the Maid, and throw the great weight of his personal influence either into one scale or the other.  Truth to tell, I was something nervous of this ordeal, and there were many who shared my doubts and fears.  But the Maid rode onward, serene and calm, the light of joy and hope in her eyes, untroubled by any doubts.  At last she was on her way to the relief of the beleaguered city; there was no room for misgiving in her faithful heart.

We entered Tours amid the clashing of joy bells, the plaudits of the soldiers, and the laughter, the weeping, the blessings of an excited populace, who regarded the Maid as the saviour of the realm.  They crowded to their windows and waved flags and kerchiefs.  They thronged upon her in the streets to gaze at her fair face and greet her as a deliverer.

It was indeed a moving scene; but she rode through it, calm and tranquil, pausing in the press to speak a few words of thanks and greeting, but preserving always her gentle maidenly air of dignity and reserve.  And so we came to the house which had been set apart for her use on her stay, and there we saw, standing at the foot of the steps which led from the courtyard into the house, a mighty, mailed figure, the headpiece alone lacking of his full armour, a carven warrior, as it seemed, with folded arms and bent brows, gazing upon us as we filed in under the archway, but making no move to approach us.

I did not need the whisper which ran through the ranks of our escort to know that this man was the great and valiant La Hire.

As the Maid’s charger paused at the foot of the steps, this man strode forward with his hand upraised as in a salute, and giving her his arm, he assisted her to alight, and for a few moments the two stood looking into each other’s eyes with mutual recognition, taking, as it were, each the measure of the other.

The Maid was the first to speak, her eyes lighting with that deep down, indescribable smile, which she kept for her friends alone.  When I saw that smile in her eyes, as they were upraised to La Hire’s face, all my fears vanished in a moment.

“You are the Dauphin’s brave General La Hire, from Orleans,” she said; “I thank you, monsieur, for your courtesy in coming thus to meet me.  For so can we take counsel together how best the enemies of our country may be overthrown.”

“You are the Maid, sent of God and the King for the deliverance of the realm,” answered La Hire, as he lifted her hand to his lips, “I bid you welcome in the name of Orleans, its soldiers, and its citizens.  For we have been like men beneath a spell—­a spell too strong for us to break.  You come to snap the spell, to break the yoke, and therefore I bid you great welcome on the part of myself and the citizens and soldiers of Orleans.  Without your counsels to His Majesty, and the aid you have persuaded him to send, the city must assuredly have fallen ere this.  Only the knowledge that help was surely coming has kept us from surrender.”