At last, I heard her voice: “What would you like to know?”
Delighted that she had chosen to respond, I asked, “When did you first hear the voices?”
“The first time—it was in 1425; I was about twelve. It was quite near our house in my father’s garden. I"ll show you the spot later. No one else was around. It was almost midday and hot. A bit like today, actually. I heard, ‘Jeanne. Jeanne.’ At first I was afraid. The voice was coming from the right-hand side toward the church over there. There was also a brightness on that side.”
The date struck me. It was the year that the Burgundians had raided the village and burnt the church. It would have been a tremendous shock to all the village, not least of all a young girl on the verge of puberty. I wondered if this had made her vulnerable to hopi
