But these various corruptions of
_Sanctus Hilarius_ are by no means the most curious that have occurred in
the names of the blessed Saints. Take, for example, my good Eulalie, the
case of your own patron, _Sancta Eulalia_; do you know what she has become
in Burgundy? Saint Eloi, nothing more nor less! The lady has become a
gentleman. Do you hear that, Eulalie, after you are dead they will make a
man of you!"
"Father will always have his joke."
"Gilbert's brother, Charles the Stammerer, was a pious prince, but, having
early in life lost his father, Pepin the Mad, who died as a result of his
mental infirmity, he wielded the supreme power with all the arrogance of a
man who has not been subjected to discipline in his youth, so much so
that, whenever he saw a man in a town whose face he did not remember, he
would massacre the whole place, to the last inhabitant. Gilbert, wishing
to be avenged on Charles, caused the church at Combray to be burned down,
the original church, that was, which Theodebert, when he and his court
left the country residence he had near here, at Thiberzy (which is, of
course, _Theodeberiacus_), to go out and fight the Burgundians, had
promised to build over the tomb of Saint Hilaire if the Saint brought him;
victory.
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