As he approached the cottage a heavy presentiment of ill seized Sir
Jocelyn. The place seemed to have lost its customary smiling air. No
fair countenance beamed upon him from the casement; no light footsteps
were heard hastening to the door; no one opened it to give him welcome.
Could Aveline have fled'?--or had some dire misfortune happened to her.
Suspense was worse than certainty of ill: and after a moment's
hesitation, he raised the latch, and with trembling footsteps crossed
the threshold.
She was gone--he could no longer doubt it. The disordered appearance of
the chamber in which he found himself, with its furniture scattered
about, seemed to tell of a struggle, and a forcible abduction.
Nevertheless, though expecting no answer, he called forth her name in
accents of wildest despair. She came not to his cries--neither she nor
her companion, Dame Sherborne, nor her faithful attendant old Anthony
Rocke. All were gone. The house was indeed desolate.
Still clinging to hope, he flew up-stairs, but could find no traces
there of any of the inmates of the dwelling; and with a heart now
completely crushed, he descended to the chamber he had just quitted.
Here he found Clement Lanyere surveying the scene of confusion around
him with a stern and troubled look. Sir Jocelyn instantly rushed up to
him, and seizing him by the arm, fiercely demanded what had become of
Aveline?
"She is in the hands of Sir Francis Mitchell," replied the promoter,
shaking-him off; "and, for aught I know, may be wedded to him by this
time."
"Wedded!" almost shrieked the young man. "Impossible! she would never
consent--and he would not dare have recourse to violence."
"Though he might not, his partner, Sir Giles Mompesson, would have no
such scruples," returned the promoter. "But perhaps you are right, and
Aveline's determined resistance may intimidate them both so that they
may abandon their design. I hope so for your sake, and for hers
also--but I have my fears."
"You know more than you choose to avow, Sir," said Sir Jocelyn
sternly,--"and as you value your life, I command you to speak plainly,
and tell me what has happened, and where I shall find Aveline."
"So commanded by any other than yourself, Sir Jocelyn," rejoined the
promoter, "I would _not_ speak; but to you I say, as I have before
declared, that Aveline is undoubtedly in the power of Sir Francis
Mitchell, and that it will rest entirely with herself whether she
escapes him or not."
"And you have caused me to be detained while she has been carried off,"
exclaimed Sir Jocelyn, furiously. "Fool that I was to trust you! You are
in league with the villains."
"Think of me what you please, and say what you will--you shall not anger
me," rejoined the promoter. "I discovered your flight from the place of
refuge I had procured for you, and guessing where you had come, followed
you hither. Your danger is not past. Vainly will you seek Sir Francis
Mitchell. You will not find him,--but you _will_ find a serjeant-at-arms
with a Star-Chamber warrant for your arrest. To this you can offer no
resistance; and what will follow? I will tell you:--immediate
incarceration in the Fleet Prison. And when safely lodged there, how,
may I ask, are you to liberate Aveline?"
"I must trust to chance," replied Sir Jocelyn. "I can no longer place
any reliance upon you. Stand aside, and let me pass. I would not harm
you."
"You cannot injure one whose intentions are friendly to you as mine are.
Listen to me, and let what I have to say sink deeply into your breast.
Do anything rather than render yourself amenable to the accursed
tribunal I have named. Abandon mistress, friend, relative--all who are
near and dear to you--if they would bring you within its grasp."
"And do you venture to give me this shameful council? Do you think I
will attend to it?" cried Sir Jocelyn.
"I am sure you will, if you hear me out--and you _shall_ hear me," the
promoter exclaimed with so much authority that the young man, however
impatient, could not refuse attention, to him. "Look me in the face, Sir
Jocelyn! Regard me well! Behold these ineffaceable marks made by the
heated iron, and the sharpened knife! How came they there? From a
sentence of the Star-Chamber. And as my offence was the same as yours,
so your sentence will correspond with mine. Your punishment will be the
same as mine--branding and mutilation. Ha! I perceive I have touched you
now."
"What was your offence, unhappy man?" asked Sir Jocelyn, averting his
gaze from the hideous aspect which, now lighted up with mingled emotions
of rage and despair, had become absolutely appalling.
"The same as your own, as I have said," replied the other;--"a few hasty
words impugning the justice of this vindictive court. Better had I have
cut out my tongue than have given utterance to them. But my case more
nearly resembled yours than I have yet explained, for, like you, I had
incurred the displeasure of Sir Giles Mompesson, and was by him
delivered to these hellish tormentors. Acting under cover of the
Star-Chamber, and in pursuance of its iniquitous decrees, he nailed me
to the pillory, and so fast, that the ears through which the spikes were
driven were left behind. Think how you would like that, Sir Jocelyn?
Think what you would feel, if you stood there on that infamous post, a
spectacle to the base and shouting rabble, with a paper fastened to your
breast, setting forth your crimes, and acquainting all that you were a
Star-Chamber delinquent?"
"Enough, Sir," interrupted Sir Jocelyn.
"Ay, enough--more than enough," rejoined the other; "but I cannot spare
you the whole of the recital, however painful it may be to you. My own
sufferings will be yours, if you heed not. So I shall go on. In robbing
me of my ears, the executioner had only half done his work. He had still
further to deface the image of his Maker,--and he hesitated not in his
task. No savage in the wilds could have treated his deadliest enemy
worse than he treated me; and yet the vile concourse applauded him, and
not a word of pity escaped them. My sentence was fully carried out; my
features for ever disfigured; and the letters of shame indelibly stamped
upon my cheek. You may read them there now if you will look at me."
"You thrill me with horror," said Sir Jocelyn.
"Ay, mine is not a mirthful history, though that fiend in human form,
Sir Giles, hath often laughed at it," rejoined the promoter. "It might
make you shudder, and perchance move you to tears, if you could hear it
all; but for the present, I shall confine myself to such portions of it
as bear upon your own perilous position--and I therefore hold myself out
as a lesson to you. Again, I bid you look upon this ravaged countenance,
and say, if by any stretch of fancy you can persuade yourself it was
once as comely as your own. You find it difficult to believe my
words--yet such was the fact. Ay," he continued, in a tone of
profoundest melancholy, "I was once proud of the gifts nature had
vouchsafed me; too proud, alas! and I was punished for my vanity and
self-boasting. In those days I loved--and was beloved in return--by a
damsel beautiful as Aveline. After my horrible punishment, I beheld her
no more. Knowing she must regard me with aversion, I shunned her. I
desired not to be an object of pity. Bring this home to your own breast,
Sir Jocelyn, and think how direful would be your lot to be driven for
ever from her you love. Yet, such has been my case."
"I cannot bear the contemplation--it were madness," cried the young man.
There was a brief pause, after which Lanyere resumed his story.
"At the time of being cast into the Fleet Prison, my prospects were fair
enough. When I came forth I was utterly ruined. Existence was a burden
to me, and I should have ended my days by my own hand, if the insatiable
desire of vengeance had not bound me to the world. For this alone I
consented to live--to bear the agonies of blighted love--to endure the
scorn and taunts of all with whom I was brought into contact. Nay, I
attached myself to him who had so deeply wronged me, to ensure revenge
upon him. My great fear was, lest I should be robbed of this precious
morsel; and you may remember that I struck up your sword when it had
touched his breast. He must die by no other hand than mine."
"Your vengeance has been tardy," observed Sir Jocelyn.
"True," replied the other. "I have delayed it for several reasons, but
chiefly because I would have it complete. The work is begun, and its
final accomplishment will not be long postponed. I will not destroy him
till I have destroyed the superstructure on which he has built his
fortunes--till all has crumbled beneath him--and he is beggared and
dishonoured. I have begun the work, I say. Look here!" he cried, taking
a parchment from his doublet. "You would give much for this deed, Sir
Jocelyn. This makes me lord of a large property in Norfolk, with which
you are well acquainted."
"You cannot mean the Mounchensey estates?" cried Sir Jocelyn. "Yet now I
look at the instrument, it is so."
"I obtained this assignment by stratagem," said the promoter; "and I
have thereby deprived Sir Giles of the most valuable portion of his
spoils; and though; he thinks to win it back again, he will find himself
deceived. My measures are too well taken. This is the chief prop of the
fabric it has taken him so long to rear, and ere long I will shake it
wholly in pieces."
"But if you have become unlawfully possessed of this property, as would
appear to be the case by your own showing, you cannot hope to retain
it," said the young knight.
"Trust me, Sir Jocelyn, I shall prove a better title to it than Sir
Giles could exhibit," rejoined Lanyere; "but this is not a time for full
explanation. If I carry out my schemes, you will not be the last person
benefited by them."
"Again, I ask you, what possible interest you can feel in me?" demanded
the young knight with curiosity.
"Next to myself, you have been most injured by Sir Giles, and even more
than myself are you an object of dislike to him. These would suffice to
excite my sympathy towards you; but I have other and stronger reasons
for my friendly feeling towards you, which in due season you shall
know."
"All your proceedings are mysterious," observed Sir Jocelyn.
"They must needs be so from the circumstances in which I am placed. I am
compelled to veil them as I do my hateful features from the prying eyes
of men: but they will be made clear anon, and you will then understand
me and my motives better. Ha! what is this?" he suddenly exclaimed, as a
noise outside attracted his attention. "Fly! fly! there is danger."
But the warning was too late. Ere the young man, who stood irresolute,
could effect his retreat from the back of the cottage, the door was
thrown open, and a serjeant-at-arms, with three attendants in black
gowns and flat caps, and having black staves in their hands, entered the
room.
Sir Jocelyn had partly drawn his sword, but restored it to the scabbard
on a glance from Lanyere.
"Resistance must not be offered," said the latter, in a low tone. "You
will only make a bad matter worse."
The serjeant-at-arms, a tall, thin man, with a sinister aspect, advanced
towards the young knight, and touching him with his wand, said--"I
attach your person, Sir Jocelyn Mounchensey, in virtue of a warrant,
which I hold from the High Court of Star-Chamber."
"I yield myself your prisoner, Sir," replied Sir Jocelyn. "Whither am I
to be taken?"
"You will be taken before the Lords of the Council in the first
instance, and afterwards, in all probability, be consigned to the
custody of the wardens of his Majesty's gaol of the Fleet," replied the
serjeant-at-arms.
"I would fain know the nature of my offence?" said Sir Jocelyn.
"You will learn that when the interrogatories are put to you," replied
the official. "But I am told you have disparaged the dignity of the High
Court, and that is an offence ever severely punished. Your accuser is
Sir Giles Mompesson."
Having said thus much, the serjeant-at-arms turned to the promoter, and
inquired, "Are you not Clement Lanyere?"
"Why do you ask?" rejoined the other.
"Because if you are he, I must request you to accompany me to Sir Giles
Mompesson."
"Lanyere is my name," replied the other; "and if I decline to attend
you, as you request, it is from no disrespect to you, but from distaste
to the society into which you propose to bring me. Your warrant does not
extend to me?"
"It does not, Sir," replied the serjeant-at-arms. "Nevertheless--"
"Arrest him!" cried a voice at the back of the house,--and a window
being thrown open, the face of Sir Giles Mompesson appeared at
it--"Arrest him!" repeated the extortioner.
The serjeant-at-arms made a movement, as if of compliance; but Lanyere
bent towards him, and whispered a few words in his ear, on hearing which
the official respectfully retired.
"Why are not my injunctions obeyed, Sir?" demanded Sir Giles,
furiously, from the window.
"Because he has rendered me good reason why he may not be molested by
us--or by any one else," replied the officer, significantly.
Lanyere looked with a smile of triumph at the extortioner, and then
turning to Sir Jocelyn, who seemed half disposed to make an attack upon
his enemy, said in an under-tone, "Harm him not. Leave him to me."
After which he quitted the cottage.
Sir Giles then signed to the serjeant-at-arms to remove his prisoner,
and disappeared; and the attendants, in sable cloaks, closing round Sir
Jocelyn, the party went forth.