Also, she commanded that we should keep the date of our departure a
secret, since she meant to get away unobserved. Otherwise we should be
sent off with a grand demonstration which would advertise us to the
enemy, and we should be ambushed and captured somewhere. Finally she
said:

"Nothing remains, now, but that I confide to you the date of our
departure, so that you may make all needful preparation in time, leaving
nothing to be done in haste and badly at the last moment. We march the
23d, at eleven of the clock at night."

Then we were dismissed. The two knights were startled--yes, and troubled;
and the Sieur Bertrand said:

"Even if the governor shall really furnish the letter and the escort, he
still may not do it in time to meet the date she has chosen. Then how can
she venture to name that date? It is a great risk--a great risk to select
and decide upon the date, in this state of uncertainty."

I said:

"Since she has named the 23d, we may trust her. The Voices have told her,
I think. We shall do best to obey."

We did obey. Joan's parents were notified to come before the 23d, but
prudence forbade that they be told why this limit was named.

All day, the 23d, she glanced up wistfully whenever new bodies of
strangers entered the house, but her parents did not appear. Still she