Epitaph for Three Women by Jean Plaidy

Author:Jean Plaidy [Plaidy, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical
ISBN: 9781446428047
Publisher: Fawcett
Published: 1981-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

It was January when Jeannette with Durand set out once more for Vaucouleurs. Her cousin’s baby had been safely delivered and because Durand took Jeannette very seriously, so did his wife.

As they set out from Petit-Burey Jeannette and Durand looked an insignificant pair and none would have guessed Jeannette’s great mission. Her smock and thick red skirt were covered by a shepherd’s cloak to shut out the bitter winds and these were the only clothes she possessed, but she was completely unconcerned about her appearance. She knew that this time she would succeed because the voices had told her she would.

Durand had arranged for them to stay for a while at the house of a wheelwright friend. Henri Royer and his wife Catherine immediately fell under Jeannette’s spell. Indeed she had changed from the girl she had been on her first visit to Vaucouleurs. The radiance of her face and the shining purpose in her eyes inspired new confidence in those about her. They were beginning to believe that she had truly been endowed with special powers from Heaven.

The day after their arrival Jeannette with Durand beside her presented herself at the castle.

Baudricourt recognised her at once. ‘So you have come to see me again,’ he said. ‘You did not take my advice and marry.’

‘You must know, sir,’ said Jeannette, ‘that God has told me His will and that is that I must go to the gentle Dauphin who is the true and only King of France, that he may give me fighting men that I may go to Orléans and raise the siege. Then I shall take him to Rheims to be crowned.’

Baudricourt was amazed. Jeannette was so precise in her demands, and they were quite preposterous. A girl go to the Dauphin, take men and lead them against the English outside Orléans!

How could a young girl live with rough soldiers? It was not difficult to guess what would become of her … And if she failed they would laugh at him as a fool for believing in such nonsense. If she succeeded they would say she owed it to witchcraft. He did not think for one moment that the girl was a witch but a woman did not have to be a witch to be accused of being one.

The Court was at Chinon. What would they think of him if he sent a girl to them?

And yet on the other hand … some people believed in miracles. He had been considerably impressed by the views of Poulengy and Jean de Metz. Those two – hardened soldiers both of them – were ready to believe that Jeannette had powers from Heaven!

And what if she had?

He listened to the girl; he talked to her; he tried to trap her, and found that it was impossible. She was simple and direct; she made no mistakes.

He had always found that in such a situation delaying tactics were the wise ones to take.

He would see Jeannette – certainly he would. She should talk to him every day.

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