the events of this day, but the lucid narrative of Quicherat, which we shall now quote, gives a very vivid picture of it.  Jeanne had timed her arrival so early in the morning, probably with the intention of keeping the adversaries in their camps unaware of so important an addition to the garrison, in order that she might surprise them by the sortie she had determined upon; but no doubt the news had leaked forth somehow, if through no other means, by the sudden ringing of the bells and sounds of joy from the city.  She paid her usual visits to the churches, and noted and made all her arrangements for the sortie with her usual care, occupying the long summer day in these preparations.  And it was not till five o’clock in the evening that everything was complete, and she sallied forth.  We hear nothing of the state of the town, or of any suspicion existing at the time as to the governor Flavy who was afterwards believed by some to be the man who sold and betrayed her.  It is a question debated warmly like all these questions.  He was a man of bad reputation, but there is no evidence that he was a traitor.  The incidents are all natural enough, and seem to indicate clearly the mere fortune of war upon which no man can calculate.  We add from Quicherat the description of the field and what took place there: 

“Compiegne is situated on the left bank of the Oise.  On the other side extends a great meadow, nearly a mile broad, at the end of which the rising ground of Picardy rises suddenly like a wall, shutting in the horizon.  The meadow is so low and so subject to floods that it is crossed by an ancient foot of the low hills.  Three village churches mark the extent of the landscape visible from the walls of Compiegne; Margny (sometimes spelt Marigny) at the end of the road; Clairoix three quarters of a league higher up, at the confluence of the two rivers, the Aronde and the Oise, close to the spot where another tributary, the Aisne, also flows into the Oise; and Venette a mile and a half lower down.  The Burgundians had one camp at Margny, another at Clairoix; the headquarters of the English were at Venette.  As for the inhabitants of Compiegne, their first defence facing the enemy was one of those redoubts or towers which the chronicles of the fifteenth century called a boulevard.  It was placed at the end of the bridge and commanded the road.

“The plan of the Maid was to make a sortie towards the evening, to attack Margny and afterwards Clairoix, and then at the opening of the Aronde valley to meet the Duke of Burgundy and his forces who were lodged there, and who would naturally come to the aid of his other troops when attacked.  She took no thought for the English, having already carefully arranged with Flavy how they should be prevented from cutting off her retreat.  The governor provided against any chance of this by arming the boulevard strongly with archers to drive off any advancing force, and also by keeping ready on the Oise a number of covered boats to receive the foot-soldiers in case of a retrograde movement.