"
All eyes were upon her as the savior of her country. She might have
secured every thing for herself; but she asked no reward, she was
content to have done her duty. And of all that was offered her, the only
thing she would accept was that Domremy should be free forever from any
kind of tax. So, until the time of the first French Revolution, the
collectors wrote against the name of the village, as it stood in their
books, "_Nothing, for the Maid's sake_."
Joan of Arc said that her work was done. She had seen her father and her
uncle in the crowd, and, with many tears, she begged the king to let her
go back with them, and keep her flocks and herds, and do all as she had
been used to do. Never had man or woman done so much with so simple a
heart. But the king and his advisers knew her power over the people, and
their entreaties that she would stay with them prevailed. So she let her
father and her uncle depart without her. They must have had enough to
tell when they reached home.
We have little heart to tell the rest of the story. At length the king
reached Paris, and the Duke of Bedford was away in Normandy. Joan wished
to attack the city, and it was done. Many of the soldiers were jealous
of her, and they fought only feebly. They crossed the first ditch round
the city, but found the second full of water. Joan was trying its depth
with her lance, when she was seriously wounded. She lay on the ground
cheering the troops, calling for fagots and bundles of wood to fill the
trench, nor would she withdraw until the evening, when the Duke of
Alencon persuaded her to give up the attempt, as it had prospered so
ill.
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