When Sancho affirmed this, saying he was proud of it, it was Don
Jeronimo's turn to become indignant; for it seemed to him nothing
short of blasphemy to take all the drollery out of the Sancho, whom he
saw before him here, he said, and who had furnished him with so many
enjoyable moments through his amusing talk, while he was reading the
First Part. The Sancho of the Second Part was a stupid character, a
fool with no sense of humor whatever, he declared; and his declaration
promptly brought forth a proverb from Sancho's lips, which summed up
his contempt for the new author. "Let him who knows how ring the
bells," he exclaimed.

The two gentlemen now invited the knight errant to join them at
supper, as they knew, they said, that the inn could afford nothing
that was befitting a warrior as illustrious as he. Always courteous,
Don Quixote acquiesced, and they withdrew to the adjoining room,
leaving Sancho and the landlord to sup by themselves. At supper Don
Quixote related to the two gentlemen his many strange adventures, and
they listened with the utmost interest; they could not help admiring
his elegant and finished speech, and at the same time were astounded
at the strange mixture of good sense and wit and absurd nonsense that
flowed from his lips.

When Sancho had finished his cow-heels, he betook himself to the room
where his master and the gentleman were supping; and as he entered he
asked Don Jeronimo: "If this author calls me glutton, as your Worships
say, I trust he does not call me drunkard too."

Don Jeronimo said that the author had been impertinent enough to do so,
although he assured Sancho that he could see by his face that the author
had lied. "Believe me," declared the squire, "the Sancho and the Don
Quixote of this history must be different persons from those that appear
in the one Cid Hamet Benengeli wrote, who are ourselves--my master,
valiant, wise, and true in love, and I, simple, droll, and neither
glutton nor drunkard."

The other gentleman, Don Juan, was of Sancho's opinion, and he added
that he thought no one but Cid Hamet, the original author, should be
permitted to write the history of Don Quixote's achievements--just as
Alexander issued an order that no one but Apelles should presume to
paint his portrait.

They carried on a conversation in this manner until quite late in the
night. Don Juan offered the Second Part to our hero to read, but Don
Quixote declined it, saying that it would on