I would that you had faith to let me lead you forth today; but the time will come when I shall not have to plead with you--you will follow gladly in my wake.

For the rest, it would perchance be a sorrow to my brave men, who have marched so far with me, not to partake in the victory which the Lord is about to send us; wherefore I will the more readily consent to delay, though, let me tell you, you are in the wrong to withstand the wishes of the Commander of the King's armies, and the messenger of the King of Kings." I verily believe that she shamed them by her gentle friendliness more than she would have done by any outburst of wrath.

Had she urged them now, I am not sure but what they would have given her her way; but she did not.

She put her white velvet cap, with its nodding plumes, upon her head, and taking with her the chiefest of the generals and her own immediate retinue, she made the tour of the walls and defences of the city, showing such a marvellous insight into the tactics of war that she astonished all by her remarks and by her injunctions.
Suddenly, as we were walking onwards, she paused and lifted her face with a wonderful rapt expression upon it.

Then she turned to Dunois, and said with quiet authority: "Mon General, I must ask of you to take a small body of picked men, and ride forth towards Blois, and see what bechances there.