course, unable to carry out what she would, hampered on every hand, and not apparently followed with the same fervour as of old.  It is true that the principal cause of all seems to have been the schemes of the Court and the indolence of Charles; but all these hindrances had existed before, and the King and his treacherous advisers had been unwillingly dragged every mile of the way, though every step made had been to Charles’s advantage.  But now though the course is still one of victory the Maid no longer seems to be either the chief cause or the immediate leader.  Perhaps this may be partly due to the fact that little fighting was necessary, town after town yielding to the King, which reduced the part of Jeanne to that of a spectator; but there is a change of atmosphere and tone which seems to point to something more fundamental than this.  The historians are very unwilling to acknowledge, except Michelet who does so without hesitation, that she had herself fixed the term of her commission as ending at Rheims; it is certain that she said many things which bear this meaning, and every fact of her after career seems to us to prove it:  but it is also true that her conviction wavered, and other sayings indicate a different belief or hope.  She did no wrong in following the profession of arms in which she had made so glorious a beginning; she had many gifts and aptitudes for it of which she was not herself at first aware:  but she was no longer the Envoy of God.  Enough had been done to arouse the old spirit of France, to break the spell of the English supremacy; it was right and fitting that France should do the rest for herself.  Perhaps Jeanne was not herself very clear on this point, and after her first statement of it, became less assured.  It is not necessary that the servant should know the designs of the master.  It did not after all affect her.  Her business was to serve God to the best of her power, not to take the management out of His hands.

The army went forth joyously upon its way, directing itself towards Paris.  There was a pilgrimage to make, such as the Kings of France were in the habit of making after their coronation; there were pleasant incidents, the submission of a village, the faint resistance, instantly overcome, of a small town, to make the early days pleasant.  Laon and Soissons both surrendered.  Senlis and Beauvais received the King’s envoys with joy.  The independent captains of the army made little circles about, like parties of pleasure, bringing in another and another little stronghold to the allegiance of the King.  When he turned aside, taking as he passed through, without as yet any serious deflection, the road rather to the Loire than to Paris, success still attended him.  At Chateau-Thierry resistance was expected to give zest to the movement of the forces, but that too yielded at once as the others had done.  The dates are very vague and it seems difficult to find any mode of reconciling them.  Almost all the historians