_THE DELIVERY OF ORLEANS._


It will be now necessary to go back in our story to the commencement
of the siege by the English of the town of Orleans, in order to
understand the work which Joan of Arc had promised to accomplish.
Orleans was the place of the utmost importance; not merely as being
the second city in France, but as forming the 'tête du pont' for the
passage of the river Loire. The French knew that were it to fall into
the hands of the English the whole of France would soon become subject
to the enemy.

The town was strongly fortified; huge towers of immense thickness, and
three stories in height, surrounded by deep and wide moats, encircled
the city. The only bridge then in existence was also strongly defended
with towers, called 'Les Tournelles,' while at the end of the town
side of the bridge were large 'bastilles,' powerful fortresses which
dated from the year 1417, when Henry V. threatened Orleans after his
triumphal march through Normandy. In 1421 the Orleanists defied the
victor of Agincourt: again they were in the agony of a desperate
defence against their invaders, ready to sustain all the horrors of a
siege.

Equally keen and determined were the English leaders to take Orleans,
which they rightly considered as the key of what remained unconquered
to them in France. Both countries looked anxiously on as the siege
progressed. Salisbury commanded the English; he had been up to this
point successful in taking all the places of importance in the
neighbourhood of Orleans, and that portion of the valley of the Loire