nding
as if on guard on a pedestal, showing the wheel which was the instrument
of his martyrdom.

"The companion statue, on the opposite side of the door, was that of
Saint Theodore of Heraclea, wearing a coat of mail, and a surcoat, and
also holding a shield and spear.

"Next to this saint, who was subsequently roasted to death by a slow
fire, in the town of Amasea, were Saint Stephen, Saint Clement, and
Saint Laurence.

"Above this double rank of martyrs the tympanum represented the story of
Saint Stephen disputing with the Doctors and stoned by the Jews; and on
all sides, on the square pillars that supported the roof of the porch,
was carved stone-work representing the tortured bodies of the righteous:
Saint Leger, Saint Laurence, Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Saint Bacchus,
Saint Quentin, and many more; a whole procession of the Blessed, being
blinded, burnt, cut in pieces, flogged with vigorous energy, and
beheaded. But it was all in melancholy decay. The _sans-culottes_, by
amputating more of their limbs in their tempest of fury, had crowned the
martyrdom of these Saints.

"The doorway to the right, dedicated to the Confessors, was a vast hull
set on end; on the sloping side to the left of the door stood Saint
Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra, holding up a gloved hand, and trampling
under foot the cruel host killing the children whose death became a
theme for so many laments; Saint Ambrose, Doctor of the Church and
Bishop of Milan, wearing a singular peaked mitre, like an extinguisher;
Saint Leo, the Pope who defied Attila; and finally Saint Laumer, one of
the glories of the Chartres district.

"He, like Saint Piat in the left-hand bay, is somewhat of a stranger
dragged into this illustrious company. He was of old highly venerated in
La Beauce, having, in his lifetime, had a career which may be briefly
summed up. During his childhood he had kept sheep; he had then been
cellarer to the cathedral; had become first an anchorite, then a monk,
and finally Abbot of the Monastery of Corbion in the forests of the
Orne.

"The opposite slope of the bay sheltered Saint Martin, Bishop of Tours,
Saint Jerome, as a Doctor of the Church, Saint Gregory, Pope and Doctor,
and Saint Avitus.

"What is curious in this door," thought Durtal, "is the parallel of
personages. On one side, to the right, Saint Nicholas, the great
miracle-worker of the East; on the other side, to the left, Saint
Martin, the great miracle-worker of the We