knew and told Sala the nature of the secret that was between that
king and the true Maid. That such a secret existed is certain.
Alain Chartier, the poet, may have been present, in March 1429, when
the Maid spoke words to Charles VII. which filled him with a
spiritual rapture. So Alain wrote to a foreign prince in July 1429.
M. Quicherat avers that Alain was present: I cannot find this in
his letter.* Any amount of evidence for the 'sign' given to the
King, by his own statement, is found throughout the two trials, that
of Rouen and that of Rehabilitation. Dunois, the famous Bastard of
Orleans, told the story to Basin, Bishop of Lisieux; and at Rouen
the French examiners of the Maid vainly tried to extort from her the
secret.** In 1480, Boisy, who had been used to sleep in the bed of
Charles VII., according to the odd custom of the time, told the
secret to Sala. The Maid, in 1429, revealed to Charles the purpose
of a secret prayer which he had made alone in his oratory, imploring
light on the question of his legitimacy.*** M. Quicherat, no bigot,
thinks that 'the authenticity of the revelation is beyond the reach
of doubt.'****

*Quicherat, Apercus Nouveaux, p. 62. Proces, v. p. 133.
**For the complete evidence, see Quicherat, Apercus, pp. 61-66.
***Quicherat, v. p. 280, iv. pp. 258, 259, another and ampler
account, in a MS. of 1500. Another, iv. p. 271: MS. of the period of
Louis XII.
****Apercus, p. 60, Paris, 1850.

Thus there was a secret between the true Maid and Charles VII. The
King, of course, could not afford to let it be known that he had
secretly doubted whether he were legitimate. Boisy alone, at some
later date, was admitted to his confidence.