In the rain the roofless houses, shattered windows, and broken carvings that littered the street presented a picture of melancholy and useless desolation.

Around three sides of the square not a building was intact.

But facing the wreckage the bronze statue of Joan of Arc sat on her bronze charger, uninjured and untouched.

In her right hand, lifted high above her as though defying the German shells, some one overnight had lashed the flag of France.
The next morning the newspapers announced that the cathedral was in flames, and I returned to Rheims.

The papers also gave the two official excuses offered by the Germans for the destruction of the church.