"Chram, this is another of your humorous friends, I suppose?"
"Yes, count, the most humorous of all—the boldest—his name is Imnachair."
"And my name is Neroweg; I shall ask seigneur Imnachair what will the thief do when he has found the nest and the dove?"
"Neroweg, your wife will tell you all about it, after we shall have discovered the belle—we shall put our hands on that treasure as surely as I am the Lion of Poitiers."
"And I," cried Neroweg, "as surely as I am the King's count in this country of Auvergne, shall kill like a dog or a prowling fox whomever would attempt the role of a lion in my house!"
"Oh, oh, count, you hold bold language! Is it the brilliant army which you lead at your heels that makes you so audacious?" queried the Prince's favorite, nodding towards Neroweg's ramshackle leudes. "If that band is up to its looks, we are lost!"
Two or three of the count's leudes who had been drawing nearer, and heard the insolent jokes of Chram's favorite grumbled aloud in angry accents:
"We do not like to see Neroweg bantered!"
"A count's leudes are matches for royal leudes!"
"The polish of the steel does not make its temper."