and to endure great hardships, and, as it proved, a terrible death.  It was these visions and voices, and they alone, which made her believe that she would succeed, if she obeyed them, in saving her country and in replacing her king on his throne.  It was these visions and voices which finally enabled her to do those marvellous deeds, and accomplish what appeared to all the world the impossible; these voices and visions will ever be connected with Joan of Arc, and with her deathless fame and glory.’

From the year 1425 till 1428, the apparitions and voices were heard and seen more or less frequently.

It is the year 1427:  all that remains to Charles of his kingdom north of the Loire, with the exception of Tournay, are a pitiful half-dozen places.  Among these is Vaucouleurs, near Domremy.  They are defended by a body of men under the command of a knight, Robert de Baudricourt, who is about to play an important part in the history of Joan.

In one of her visions the maid was told to seek this knight, that through his help she might be brought to the French Court; for the voices had told her she might find the King and tell him her message, by which she should deliver the land from the English, and restore him to his throne.  There had not been wanting legends and prophecies upon the country-side which may have impressed Joan, and helped her to believe that it was her mission to deliver France.  One of the prophecies was to the effect that a maiden from the borders of Lorraine should save France, that this maiden would appear from a place near an oak forest.  This seemed to point directly to our heroine.  The old oak-tree haunted by the fairies, the neighbouring country of Lorraine, were all in help of the tradition.  Since the betrayal of her husband’s country by the wife of Charles vi., another saying had been spread abroad throughout all that remained of that small portion of France still held by the French King—­namely, that although France would be lost by a woman, a maiden should save it.  Any hope to the people in those distressful days was eagerly seized on; and although the first prophecy dated from the mythical times of Merlin, it stirred the people, especially when, later on, Joan of Arc appeared among them, and her story became known.

These prophecies appear to have struck deeply into Joan’s soul; they, and her voices aiding, made her believe she was the maiden by whom her country would be delivered from the presence of the enemy.  But how was she to make her parents understand that it was their child who was appointed by Heaven to fulfil this great deliverance?  Her father seems to have been a somewhat harsh, at any rate a practical, parent.  When told of her intention to join the army, he said he would rather throw her into the river than allow her to do so.  An attempt was made by her parents to induce her to marry.  They tried their best, but Joan would none of it; and bringing the case before the lawyers at Toul, where she proved that she had never thought of marrying a youth whom her parents required her to wed, she gained her cause and her freedom.