ing them to the limbo of
inventions and lies. In spite of certain anecdotes which are, to say the
least of it, ridiculous, there may be found in these texts some accurate
details and authentic narratives which the Evangelists, cautiously
reticent, did not think proper to record. The Middle Ages by no means
lent themselves to heresy when they ascribed to these purely human
Scriptures the value of probable legend and the interest of pious
reminiscence.

"As a whole," thought Durtal, who was now standing in front of the doors
between the two towers, the royal western front, "as a whole, this vast
palimpsest, with its 719 figures, is easy to decipher if we avail
ourselves of the key applied by the Abbe Bulteau in his monograph on
this cathedral.

"Starting from the new belfry and working across the western front to
the old belfry, we follow the history of Christ embodied in nearly two
hundred statues lost in the capitals. It starts with Christ's ancestors,
beginning with the story of Anna and Joachim, and giving the legend in
minute images. Out of deference perhaps to the Inspired Books, this
history creeps along the wall, making itself small so as to be
inconspicuous, and narrates, as if in secret, by artless mimicry, poor
Joachim's despair when a scribe of the Temple named Reuben reproves him
for being childless, and rejects his offerings in the name of the Lord
who has not blessed him; then Joachim, in sorrow, separates from his
wife and goes away to bewail the curse that has lighted on him, till an
angel appears to him and comforts him, and bids him return to his wife,
who shall bear a daughter of his begetting.

"Then we see Anna, weeping alone over her barrenness and her widowhood;
and the angel comes to her and bids her go forth to meet her husband,
and she finds him at the golden gate. And they fall on each other's neck
and go home together. And Anna brings forth Mary, whom they dedicate to
the Lord.

"Years then pass, till the time comes when the Virgin is to be
betrothed. The High Priest bids all of the children of the House of
David who are of age, and not yet married, to come to the altar with a
rod in their hand; and to discern which of these shall be chosen to
marry the Virgin, Abiathar, the High Priest, inquires of the Most High,
who repeats the prophecy of Isaiah which declares that a flower shall
come out of Jesse on which the Holy Spirit shall rest.

"And immediately the rod blossoms of one of those