Preceded by a great banner, the Maid of Orleans, as she may now be called, with Dunois by her side, and followed by her knights and men-at-arms, rode slowly through the streets, filled with a crowd almost delirious in its joy at welcoming within its walls its long-looked-for Deliverer.  The people clung to her, kissing her knees and feet, and, according to the old chroniclers, behaved as if God Himself had appeared among them.  So eager was the throng to approach her, that in the press one of her standards was set on fire by a flambeau.  After returning thanks for the delivery of her countrymen in the cathedral, Joan was made welcome at the house of the treasurer of the imprisoned Duke of Orleans.  This citizen’s name was James Boucher; and here she lodged, with her brothers, and the two faithful knights who had accompanied her during her journey from Vaucouleurs to Chinon.

A vaulted room in this house is still shown, which purports to have been that occupied by the Maid of Orleans.  If it is the same building it has been much modernised, although a beautiful specimen of the domestic Gothic of the early part of the fifteenth century, known as the house of Agnes Sorel, remains much in the condition that it must have been in during the famous year of deliverance, 1429.

Although Orleans, by the action of Joan of Arc, had been succoured for the time, the enemy was still at its gates, and Joan’s mission was but half accomplished.  The aspect of affairs since the 29th of April was, however, greatly changed in favour of the French, and the roles of besieged and besiegers changed.  Joan’s arrival had infused a fresh spirit of enthusiasm and patriotism into the citizens, and the English were no longer feared.  We have Dunois’s authority for the fact that whereas, up to that time, two hundred English could put eight hundred French to the rout, now five hundred French soldiers were prepared to meet the entire English army.

On the 13th of April, hostilities had recommenced.  Four hundred men, commanded by Florent d’Illiers, made a sortie against the English near the trenches at Saint Pouair, driving them into their quarters.  But the success was not followed up, and appears to have been undertaken without Joan of Arc’s advice.  To the heralds that she sent into the English camp only jeers and taunts were returned; and already the threat of burning her when caught was made use of.  Joan was, however, not to be deterred by menaces and insults from doing all she could to prevent unnecessary loss of life.  On one occasion she rode out half-way across the bridge, to where there stood a crucifix called La Belle Croix, within speaking distance of the English in the Tournelles.  Thence she summoned Glansdale and his men to surrender, promising that their lives should be spared.  They answered with derisive shouts and villainous abuse.  Still commanding her patience, which was only equalled by her courage, and before returning to the town, she told them that, in spite of their boasting, the time was near at hand when they would be driven forth, and that their leader would never see England again.  That they feared the Maid was evident, in spite of the insults with which they greeted her; at any rate, no attempt was made to attack her:  even when almost alone, she came close to their fortifications.