Above all, she was insistent that the dying should receive the consolations of religion, and it was a terrible thought to her that either friend or foe should perish unshriven and unassoiled.
Her last act at Vaucouleurs, ere we started off in the early dawn of a late February day, was to attend Mass with all her following.
An hour later, after a hasty meal provided by De Baudricourt, we were all in the saddle, equipped and eager for the start.

The Maid sat her chestnut charger as to the manner born.

The pawings of the impatient animal caused her no anxiety.

She was looking with a keen eye over her little band of followers, taking in, as a practised leader of men might do, their equipment and general readiness for the road.

She pointed out to me several small defects which required adjusting and rectifying.
Already she seemed to have assumed without effort, and as a matter of course, the position of leader and general.