Once more there was a pause of indecision; the King was not bold enough either to push on and leave the city, or to attack it.  Again councils of war succeeded each other day after day, discussing the matter over and over, leaving the King each time more doubtful, more timid than before.  From these debates Jeanne was anxiously held back, while every silken fool gave his opinion.  At last, one of the councillors was stirred by this strange anomaly.  He declared among them all, that as it was by the advice of the Maid that the expedition had been undertaken, without her acquiescence it ought not to be abandoned.  “When the King set out it was not because of the great puissance of the army he then had with him, or the great treasure he had to provide for them, nor yet because it seemed to him a probable thing to be accomplished; but the said expedition was undertaken solely at the suit of the said Jeanne, who urged him constantly to go forward, to be crowned at Rheims, and that he should find little resistance, for it was the pleasure and will of God.  If the said Jeanne is not to be allowed to give her advice now, it is my opinion that we should turn back,” said the Seigneur de Treves, who had never been a partisan of or believer in Jeanne.  We are told that at this fortunate moment when one of her opponents had thus pronounced in her favour, Jeanne, impatient and restless, knocked at the door of the council chamber as she had done before in her rustic boldness; and then there occurred a brief and characteristic dialogue.

“Jeanne,” said the Archbishop of Rheims, taking the first word, probably with the ready instinct of a conspirator to excuse himself from having helped to shut her out, “the King and his council are in great perplexity to know what they should do.”

“Shall I be believed if I speak?” said the Maid.

“I cannot tell,” replied the King, interposing; “though if you say things that are reasonable and profitable, I shall certainly believe you.”

“Shall I be believed?” she repeated.

“Yes,” said the King, “according as you speak.”

“Noble Dauphin,” she exclaimed, “order your people to assault the city of Troyes, to hold no more councils; for, by my God, in three days I will introduce you into the town of Troyes, by love or by force, and false Burgundy shall be dismayed.”

“Jeanne,” said the Chancellor, “if you could do that in six days, we might well wait.”

“You shall be master of the place,” said the Maid, addressing herself steadily to the King, “not in six days, but to-morrow.”

And then there occurred once more the now habitual scene.  It was no longer the miracle it had been to see her dash forward to her post under the walls with her standard which was the signal for battle, to which the impatient troops responded, confident in her, as she in herself.  But for the first time we hear how the young general, learning her trade of war day by day, made her preparations for the siege.