Chinon; and there, indeed, it was found. She had a white banner made,
studded with lilies, bearing the representation of God seated upon the
clouds, and holding in His hand the globe of the world. Above were the
words "Jesu Maria," and below were two angels, on their knees in
adoration. Joan was fond of her sword, as she said two years afterwards
at her trial, but she was forty times more fond of her banner, which was,
in her eyes, the sign of her commission and the pledge of victory. On
the completion of the preparations she demanded the immediate departure
of the expedition. Orleans was crying for succor; Dunois was sending
messenger after messenger; and Joan was in a greater hurry than anybody
else.

More than a month elapsed before her anxieties were satisfied. During
this interval we find Charles VII. and Joan of Arc at Chatelherault, at
Poitiers, at Tours, at Florent-les-Saumur, at Chinon, and at Blois, going
to and fro through all that country to push forward the expedition
resolved upon, and to remove the obstacles it encountered. Through a
haze of vague indications a glimpse is caught of the struggle which was
commencing between the partisans and the adversaries of Joan, and in
favor of or in opposition to the impulse she was communicating to the war
of nationality. Charles VII.'s mother-in-law, Yolande of Arragon, Queen
of Sicily, and the young Duke of Alencon, whose father had been killed at
the battle of Agincourt, were at the head of Joan's partisans. Yolande
gave money and took a great deal of trouble in order to promote the
expedition which was to go and succor Orleans. The Duke of Alencon,
hardly twenty years of age, was the only one amongst the princes of the
house of Valois who had given Joan a kind reception on her arrival, and
who, together with the brave La Hire, said that he would follow her
whithersoever she pleased to lead him. Joan, in her gratitude, called
him the handsome duke, and exhibited towards him amity and confidence.