He argued with quiet
tenacity for his convictions.
"You are right to believe in her," said he, "but I think you are
mistaken to deny her 'voices.' They were as real as anything in
her life. You credit her when she says that she was born here, that
she went to Chinon and saw the king, that delivered Orleans. Why
not credit her when she says she heard God and the saints speaking
to her? The proof of it was in what she did. Have you read the story
of her trial? How clear and steady her answers were! The judges
could not shake her. Yet at any moment she could have saved her
life by denying the 'voices.' It was because she knew, because
she was sure, that she could not deny. Her vision was a part of
her real life. She was the mother of French patriotism--yes. But
she was also the daughter of true faith. That was her power."
"Well," said the younger man, "she sacrificed herself and she
saved France. That was the great thing."
"Yes," said the elder man, stretching his hand across the table
to clasp the hand of his companion, "there is nothing greater than
that.
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