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 West.