ecstasy of some kind, at that time. She bade me keep these and the other
revelations to myself for the present, and I said I would, and kept the
faith I promised.

None who met Joan that day failed to notice the change that had come over
her. She moved and spoke with energy and decision; there was a strange
new fire in her eye, and also a something wholly new and remarkable in
her carriage and in the set of her head. This new light in the eye and
this new bearing were born of the authority and leadership which had this
day been vested in her by the decree of God, and they asserted that
authority as plainly as speech could have done it, yet without
ostentation or bravado. This calm consciousness of command, and calm
unconscious outward expression of it, remained with her thenceforth until
her mission was accomplished.

Like the other villagers, she had always accorded me the deference due my
rank; but now, without word said on either side, she and I changed
places; she gave orders, not suggestions. I received them with the
deference due a superior, and obeyed them without comment. In the evening
she said to me:

"I leave before dawn. No one will know it but you. I go to speak with the
governor of Vaucouleurs as commanded, who will despise me and treat me
rudely, and perhaps refuse my prayer at this time. I go first to Burey,
to persuade my uncle Laxart to go with me, it not being meet that I go
alone. I may need you in Vaucouleurs; for if the governor will not
receive me I will dictate a letter to him, and so must have some one by
me who knows the art of how to write and spell the words. You will go
from here to-morrow in the afternoon, and remain in Vaucouleurs until I
need you."