A long and troublesome passage had Joan of Arc from this bad world to her home in heaven, where dwelt those whom she called “her brothers of Paradise.”  Her faith was to be tried in the fire—­purified seven times.  All the French army were jealous of her.  The governor of the fortress of Compiegne was cruel and tyrannical beyond all others, even in that age.  Compiegne was besieged by the English; Joan threw herself bravely into the place.  She arrived there on the 24th of May, and that same evening she headed a party who went out of the gates to attack the enemy.  Twice they were driven back by her; but, seeing more coming up, she made the sign to go back.  She kept herself the last; the city gate was partly closed, so that but few could pass in at once.  In the confusion she was separated from her friends; but she still fought bravely, until an archer from Picardy seized her and dragged her from her horse.  She struggled, but was obliged to give up; and so the Maid of Orleans was taken prisoner.

Joan was first taken to the quarters of John of Luxembourg.  Her prison was changed many times, but the English were eager to have her in their own power.  In November John of Luxemburg sold her to them for a large sum of money.  When she was in his prison she had tried twice to escape.  She could not try now; she was put in the great tower of the castle of Rouen, confined between iron gratings, with irons upon her feet.  Her guards offered her all kinds of rudeness, and even John of Luxembourg was so mean as to go and rejoice over her in her prison.

It would have been a cruel thing to put her to death as a prisoner of war; but those were dark days, and such things were often done.  The desire of the English was to hold Joan up to public scorn as a witch, and to prove that she had dealings with the devil.  With this wicked object, they put her on her trial.  They found Frenchmen ready enough to help them.  One Canchon, bishop of Beauvais, even petitioned that the trial might be under his guidance.  He had his desire; he was appointed the first judge, and a hundred and two other learned Frenchmen were found ready to join him.

Before these false judges Joan of Arc was called—­as simple a girl as she was when, just two years before, she left Domremy.  All that malice and rage could do was done against her.  She was alone before her enemies.  Day after day they tried hard to find new and puzzling questions for her; to make her false on her own showing; to make her deny her visions or deny her God.  They could not.  Clearheaded, simple-hearted, she had been always, and she was so still.  She showed the faith of a Christian, the patience of a saint, in all her answers.  Piety and wisdom were with her, wickedness and folly with her enemies.  They tried to make evil out of two things in particular:  her banner, with which it was declared she worked charms, and the tree she used to dance around when she was a child, where they