Winter melted into spring; the truce with Burgundy was prolonged, but
the Burgundians fought under English colours. The king did nothing, but
in Normandy La Hire rode in arms to the gates of Rouen. Paris became
doubtfully loyal to the English. The Maid could be idle no longer.
Without a word to the king she rode to Lagny, 'for there they had fought
bravely against the English.' These men were Scots, under Sir Hugh
Kennedy. In mid-April she was at Melun. There 'she heard her Voices
almost every day, and many a time they told her that she would presently
be taken prisoner.' Her year was over, and as the Voices prophesied her
wound at Orleans, now they prophesied her captivity. She prayed that she
might die as soon as she was taken, without the long sorrow of
imprisonment. Then her Voices told her to bear graciously whatever
befell her, for so it must be. But they told her not the hour of her
captivity. 'If she had known the hour she would not then have gone to
war. And often she prayed them to tell her of that hour, but they did
not answer.'
These words are Joan's. She spoke them to her judges at Rouen.
Among all her brave deeds this was the bravest. Whatever the source of
her Voices was, she believed in what they said. She rode to fight with
far worse than death under shield before her eyes, knowing certainly
that her English foes would take her, they who had often threatened to
burn her.