The Maid of Orleans (play)

SCENE V.

QUEEN ISABEL, with soldiers, appears in the background.

ISABEL (behind the scene).

This is the way toward the English camp!

RAIMOND.

Alas! the foe!

[The soldiers advance, and perceiving JOBANNA fall back in terror.

ISABEL.

What now obstructs the march?

SOLDIERS.

May God protect us!

ISABEL.

Do ye see a spirit?

How! Are ye soldiers! Ye are cowards all!

[She presses forward, but starts back on beholding the MAIDEN.

What do I see!

[She collects herself quickly and approaches her.

Submit thyself! Thou art

My prisoner!

JOHANNA.

I am.

[RAIMOND flies in despair.

ISABEL (to the soldiers).

Lay her in chains!

[The soldiers timidly approach the MAIDEN;

she extends her arms and is chained.

Is this the mighty, the terrific one,

Who chased your warriors like a flock of lambs,

Who, powerless now, cannot protect herself?

Doth she work miracles with credulous fools,

And lose her influence when she meets a man?

[To the MAIDEN.

Why didst thou leave the army? Where's Dunois,

Thy knight and thy protector.

JOHANNA.

I am banished.

[ISABEL, stepping back astonished.

ISABEL.

What say'st thou? Thou art banished? By the Dauphin?

JOHANNA.

Inquire no further! I am in thy power,

Decide my fate.

ISABEL.

Banished, because thou hast

Snatched him from ruin, placed upon his brow

The crown at Rheims, and made him King of France?

Banished! Therein I recognize my son!

-Conduct her to the camp, and let the host

Behold the phantom before whom they trembled!

She a magician? Her sole magic lies

In your delusion and your cowardice!

She is a fool who sacrificed herself

To save her king, and reapeth for her pains

A king's reward. Bear her to Lionel.

The fortune of the French! send him bound;

I'll follow anon.

JOHANNA.

To Lionel?

Slay me at once, ere send me unto him.

ISABEL (to the soldiers).

Obey your orders, soldiers! Bear her hence.

[Exit.