No sooner had the gentlemen of the King’s Guard recovered from an astonishment which at first seemed to overwhelm them than they began to shout with laughter. For what reason they should thus view the matter I cannot explain; but from that moment a more formal air was imparted to the assembly. Something of ceremony declared itself, and the manner of all present became perceptibly less easy. Still this may in a measure have been due to the fact that these gentlemen put forth remarkable and in some cases highly ludicrous efforts to conduct their discourse in Castilian. In one particular, however, our singular companion saw fit to rebuke them. They persisted in bestowing upon him the title of “Monseigneur,” so that presently he was moved to exclaim, “I pray you remember, my good friends, that I am neither more nor less than the worshipful Señor Fulano, worshipful kinsman to the worshipful burgomaster of the worshipful town of El Dorado. Beyond this I claim no title. And when the Señor Fulano comes among you to-morrow at the Louvre, which a conspiracy on the part of fortune has rendered necessary, I pray you not to call the honest person out of his true degree.” Laughter and surprise greeted this speech; yet a kind of respect was paid to it, and during the rest of the evening they were careful to heed this request. These gentlemen sat at their gaming far into the night. The play was high; gold pieces were numerous, being piled upon the table and exchanged freely. Also they drank an immense quantity of a very superior kind of red wine. Whatever the individual fortunes of the players, and of these I cannot speak, there was at least one among them who rose from the board considerably richer in the things of this world than when he sat down at it. I allude to Sir Richard Pendragon. Both the Count of Nullepart and myself were fain to observe that, whenever it came to the Englishman’s turn to take the dice in hand, quite as often as not he would have the singular good fortune to cast the double six. CHAPTER XXVI OF OUR APPEARANCE AT THE LOUVRE BEFORE KING LOUIS AT noon the next day we set out upon our embassy to the King of France. However, before so doing, at the instance of Sir Richard Pendragon we repaired to a furrier’s shop in a little narrow street behind the church called Notre Dame, which the Count of Nullepart informed us was the first in the city. Here we purchased three baldricks of an extraordinary brilliancy, trimmed with ermine.