By this time a very different complexion had been imparted to the scene.
The interruption of the marriage ceremony, and the perplexities of the
old usurer, tricked out of his intended bride, and bereft even of her
substitute, had afforded abundant amusement to the company, who, so far
from feeling pity for the sufferer, seemed vastly to enjoy his
mortification and disappointment. But all laughter died away, and every
tongue became suddenly mute, as Prince Charles, assuming the severe look
and dignified deportment of a judge, commanded Clement Lanyere to stand
forward, and prefer the charges he had to make against Sir Giles
Mompesson.
All eyes were fixed upon the extortioner and his accuser; and though
etiquette prevented the company from advancing too near the royal seat,
a dense semicircle was formed in front of it, in the midst of which
stood the two principal actors in the drama about to take place,
together with the discomfited Sir Francis Mitchell.
Sir Giles Mompesson was not without great misgivings. He saw that his
case was already prejudged by the Prince; and the glance of inquiry
with which he had consulted his patron, the Marquis of Buckingham, and
which was answered by a cold, menacing regard, convinced him that little
support was to be expected in that quarter. Nevertheless, though he felt
himself in considerable jeopardy, he allowed no look or gesture
indicative of uneasiness to escape him; and the courage that had borne
him through many a trial still remained unshaken. Not so Sir Francis
Mitchell. He also perceived the perilous position in which he and his
partner were placed, and his abject manner showed how thoroughly he was
daunted. Look wherever he would, he found no sympathy: every one derided
his distress.
But far more than the two extortioners did their accuser command
attention. As he cast off his mask and displayed his appalling features,
a thrill of surprise and horror pervaded such of the assemblage as had
never seen them before. But the feeling was speedily lost in wonder.
Drawing himself up to his full height, so that his lofty figure towered
above those with whom he was confronted, he seemed to dart lightning
glances against them. Even Sir Giles could not bear his scathing looks,
and would have shielded himself from them if he could. Though fearful to
behold, Lanyere's countenance had a terrible purpose impressed upon it
which none could mistake. The effect produced by his appearance upon
the spectators was shared even by Prince Charles, and a few minutes
elapsed before the silence was broken. At length, the Prince again
spoke:--
"I sit here," he said, "as the representative of the Majesty of
England--clothed with the authority of my royal father, and prepared to
exercise it, as he would do were he present in person. But though this
seat is erected into a tribunal before which accusations against
wrong-doers can be brought, and sentence upon them pronounced; still,
whatever charges are now made, and against whomsoever they may be
preferred, those charges will have to be repeated to the Lords of the
Council of the Star-Chamber, before whom the accused will be taken; and
any judgment now given will have to be confirmed by that high and
honourable Court. Of late, the course of justice has been too often
baffled and turned aside by the craft and subtlety of certain powerful
and audacious offenders. Hence it has been the wish of the King's
Highness, in order that the laws may no longer be broken with impunity,
that certain preliminary inquiries and investigations should be made on
the spot itself, where it is alleged that the crimes and misdemeanours
have been committed; and, according to the evidence afforded, such
measures as may be deemed fitting taken against the wrong-doers. All
present have witnessed this mock ceremonial, and have laughed at its
conclusion, but mirth will be changed to indignation, when it is known
that the intended marriage was the result of a vile conspiracy on the
part of Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis Mitchell, against a young,
virtuous, and unprotected maiden, whose beauty had inflamed the breast
of the elder, and it might have been expected from that circumstance,
the wiser of the two. Into the details of their infamous scheme, it will
not be necessary now to enter; and it may suffice to say, that the
devoted attachment of the damsel to another was wholly disregarded,
while the basest means were employed to induce her consent to a match so
abhorrent to her feelings, as must have been that with Sir Francis.
Failing in this, however, the two conspirators went yet further. They
forcibly carried off the maiden from her own dwelling, and detained her
against her will within this house, till by their arts they imagined
they had gained their point--and that a love-potion would accomplish all
for them, that their persuasions and fair promises were unable to
effect. But the damsel was guarded from all ill by an unseen friend--and
the weapons of the conspirators were turned against themselves. You have
witnessed how they have been duped, and, as no mischief has resulted
from this infamous endeavour, the mortification they have endured may be
taken as part punishment of the offence. Stand forward, fair Mistress
Aveline Calveley, and substantiate what I have just declared."
Thus adjured, the maiden approached within a few paces of the Prince,
and having made a lowly salutation, said,--
"All that your Highness has advanced concerning me is correct."
"Enough, fair mistress," rejoined Charles. "How say you, Sirs," he
continued, in a stern tone, to the two extortioners. "Do you confess
your guilt, and sue for pardon? If so, down on your knees before this
injured damsel, and implore her forgiveness!"
A prey to violent terror, the old usurer instantly adopted the
supplicatory posture recommended by the Prince; but Sir Giles refused
compliance.
"Having committed no offence, I sue for no pardon," he said, with his
wonted audacity. "I repel the charge with indignation; and, in my turn,
accuse Clement Lanyere and Luke Hatton of a conspiracy against me. This
damsel is but their tool, as I will show, if your Highness will deign to
give ear to me."
"It were mere waste of time to listen to idle fabrications," replied
Charles. "The evidence against you is complete, and my opinion upon it
is formed. But what saith the maiden herself? Is she willing that any
grace be shown her persecutors?"
"The redress I have already obtained at the hands of your Highness is
amply sufficient," replied Aveline. "Great as has been the misery these
two persons have occasioned me, and grievously as they have sought to
injure me, I seek no further satisfaction; but would implore your
Highness to pardon them. Their own thoughts will be punishment enough."
"Amply sufficient--for nothing can be more bitter," cried the old
usurer, while a scornful smile curled Sir Giles's lips.
"Spoken as I expected you would speak, fair maiden," said Charles; "and,
were there nothing else against them, I might listen to your kindly
intercessions. But other and darker disclosures have to be made; and
when you have heard all, even your compassionate breast may be steeled
against them. Retire for a moment; but do not leave the room. Your
presence may yet be needed."
And bowing graciously to Aveline, she withdrew under the care of the
gentleman who had brought her forward, but still remained a spectatress
of the scene.
"And now to proceed with the investigation," pursued Charles. "What have
you to allege against the two persons before you?" he added, to Clement
Lanyere.
"Were I to relate all their enormities, most gracious Prince," replied
the promoter, "the recital would be too painful for your hearing, and
that of this noble assemblage. But I will, in a word, declare that there
is no kind of outrage, oppression, and extortion of which they have not
been guilty. Their insatiable greediness has been fed by constant
plunder; and, alike cruel and rapacious, nothing but the ruin and
absolute destruction of their victims would content them. Merciless as
creditors, they have ground their unfortunate debtors to the dust. The
tears of the widow they have robbed of her husband and her means of
existence--the despair of the orphan, whose fair prospects they have
blighted--have failed to move them. Utterly unscrupulous as to the means
of obtaining possession of property, they have forged wills, deeds, and
other documents. Their ingenuity has been taxed to devise new means of
unjust gain; and, imposing upon the King's Majesty by false
representations, they have succeeded in obtaining his letters patent for
certain monopolies, which they have so shamefully abused, as to bring
his sovereign authority into discredit."
"Hold!" cried Sir Giles Mompesson. "To the first--vague and general
accusations brought against me and my co-patentee, by this branded
traitor, who, having been publicly punished for falsehood and libel,
cannot be received as a witness, I have deigned no answer, conceiving
such accusations cannot be for a moment entertained by you, most
gracious Prince. But to this specific charge, I give a flat denial; and
demand proof of it. I appeal to the most noble Marquis of Buckingham,
through whose interest Sir Francis Mitchell and myself obtained those
patents for the licences of inspection of inns and hostelries, as well
as for the manufacture of gold and silver lace, whether he has ever
heard aught to our disparagement in our conduct of them?"
"Do not appeal to me, Sir," replied Buckingham, coldly.
"Sir Giles has demanded proof of my charge, and I am prepared to produce
it," said Lanyere. "As to the vagueness of my accusations, your Highness
will judge of that when the full catalogue of the offences of these two
extortioners, with the damnatory proofs of them, shall be laid before
you. This memorial, signed by nearly the whole of the sufferers from
their exactions, perpetrated by means of the monopolies, will satisfy
your Highness of the truth of my statement--but I have also a witness to
call."
"A witness!--here!" muttered Sir Giles, uneasily. "This must be a
deeply-concerted scheme."
"Before you bring forward any one," said Charles, addressing Lanyere,
"Sir Giles must be set right on one point in which he is in error. Your
credibility is not to be disputed, and I accept your testimony against
him."
"Your Highness!" cried the extortioner.
"Peace, Sir! you shall be heard anon," said Charles. "Produce your
witness," he added to Lanyere.
At a sign from the promoter, Luke Hatton, who was standing near the
doorway, stepped behind the tapestry, and almost immediately reappearing
with Madame Bonaventure, led her towards the Prince, before whom she
prostrated herself.
"Arise, Madame," said Charles, graciously. "Your features are not
unfamiliar to me. Methinks you are the hostess of the French ordinary at
the tavern of the Three Cranes, in the Vintry."
"Tour Highness is in the right--I am Madame Bonaventure, at your
Highness's service," replied the hostess, enchanted at this recognition
on the part of the Prince. "My lord of Buckingham, I am well persuaded,
will condescend to speak to the merits and respectability of my
establishment."
"In sooth will I, good hostess," replied the Marquis. "I can give your
Bordeaux my heartiest commendation. 'Tis the best in London."
"Nay, I can speak to it myself--and to the good order of the house too;
having visited the tavern incognito," remarked the Prince, smiling.
"Is it possible!" exclaimed Madame Bonaventure, rapturously. "Have I
been so greatly honoured? Mon Dieu!--and not to be aware of it!"
"I must remind you of the cause of your appearance here, Madame
Bonaventure," said Lanyere.
"You are required to depose before his Highness as to the exactions you
suffered from Sir Giles and his partner."
"His Highness shall hear all from me," rejoined the hostess. "I should
have been reduced to beggary had I submitted to their extortionate
usage. I bore it as long as I could, but when absolute ruin stared me in
the face, I had recourse to a noble friend who helped me in my extremity
and delivered me by a, stratagem."
"It was a fraudulent scheme," cried Sir Giles;--"a fraud upon his
Majesty, as well as upon those who enjoyed the privileges conferred by
his letters patent."
"That I can contradict, Sir," said Buckingham, "since I myself was
present on the occasion, and stated in the hearing of the large company
then assembled,--several of whom are now before us,--that his Majesty
relinquished all share of the ruinous fine of three thousand marks
imposed by you and your co-patentee upon this good woman."
"And I trust you added, my Lord, that the King's Highness would never
knowingly consent to have his exchequer enriched by such shameful
means," said Charles, with a look of indignation. "These monopolies were
not granted by his Majesty for the wrongful profit of their holders;
and, since they have been turned to such iniquitous use, I will take
upon me to declare that they shall all be suppressed. Do you attempt to
deny," he continued to Sir Giles, "that this outrageous fine was
imposed?"
"It were useless to deny it," replied the extortioner, with a malicious
look at Buckingham; "but the noble Marquis has not always disapproved so
strongly of my proceedings. Nay, I can show that he himself has been
secretly a party to like transactions."
"Ah, villain!" exclaimed Buckingham,--"do you venture to calumniate your
protector? I shall leave you to the fate you so richly merit. Your foul
and false assertions cannot affect me; but they are not likely to
improve your case with his Highness, who, though aware of its impotency,
will perceive the extent of your malice. If you dared, I doubt not you
would likewise assert that his Majesty himself was cognisant of your
frauds and oppressions, and approved them."
"I do assert, and will maintain it--ay, and prove it, too--that the
King's Highness was aware how these monopolies were managed, and derived
a considerable revenue from them," said Sir Giles.
"You hear him, Prince," remarked Buckingham, with a disdainful smile.
"I would not have believed in such matchless effrontery had I not
witnessed it," replied Charles. "You may retire, Madame," he added to
the hostess, who, with a profound reverence, withdrew. "Have you aught
further to declare, or any other witnesses to produce?" he continued to
Lanyere.
"I have both, your Highness," replied the promoter.
"What more false accusations have you to bring against me?" demanded Sir
Giles, folding his arms upon his breast, and fixing his keen gaze upon
Lanyere.
"His Highness shall hear," replied the promoter. "I have a multitude of
cases which I could adduce in support of my charges--all of which will
be mentioned in due season--but I shall now content myself with one, and
from it the nature of the rest may be inferred. But let me premise that,
in the greater part of these cases, and in all the more important of
them, where grievous and irreparable wrong has been committed, the
engine employed by these crafty and dangerous men has been the
Star-Chamber."
"The Star-Chamber!" exclaimed Charles, bending his brows.
"Your Highness will now perceive the drift of this cunning knave's
argument," said Sir Giles. "Through me and my partner, all whose actions
will bear the strictest scrutiny, he would covertly attack that high and
honourable Court, whose dignity we have ever been most zealous to
maintain; and his motive for doing so is because he has incurred its
censure. When I have heard his precise charges, I will reply to
them--ay, one by one--if he will bring forward the multitude of cases he
affirms he can produce against me. But meanwhile I can fearlessly
declare my innocence of the wrong imputed to me. If I have been to blame
in those monopolies, I am not the only one in fault, as time will show.
Nay, there are greater culprits than I"--looking hard at Buckingham, who
regarded him disdainfully--"but I deny that I have done more than I can
fully justify. As regards other matters, and the way in which my wealth
has been acquired, I have acted only with caution, prudence, and
foresight. Is it my fault that there are so many persons who, from
various causes, will have money, no matter what they pay for it? If they
apply to me under such circumstances, and ruin ensues to them, am I to
blame? I lend monies as a usurer--all men know it. 'Tis my vocation, and
that of my partner; and my answer is his answer. We have done nothing
beyond the law; and the law, which has hitherto supported us, will
support us still. To affirm that we have employed the highest court of
the kingdom as an instrument of oppression and extortion is an assertion
too monstrous to obtain a moment's credit. The Star-Chamber is too
jealous of its honour not to resent the imputation; and such a charge
will not escape its censure."
"Nevertheless, at whatever risk, I repeat the accusation," rejoined
Lanyere; "and my words will not be forgotten by his Highness, and by all
others who hear them. I assert that Sir Giles Mompesson has subtly and
designedly perverted the practice of that high and honourable Court,
causing it to aid his schemes of rapacity and injustice, and using it as
a means of stifling the cries of his victims, and working out his
purposes of vengeance. Hitherto, he has succeeded in masking his designs
with so much skill that they have escaped detection; but when the
mischief he has done under the mask of justice, and the wrongs and
cruelties he has perpetrated in the name of the law shall be fully made
known, no punishment will be deemed commensurate to his crimes. It is
chiefly he and his partner who, by their evil doings, have brought the
Star-Chamber into disrepute, and made it a terror to all just men, who
have dreaded being caught within the toils woven around it by these
infamous wretches; and the Court will do well to purge itself of such
villanies, and make a terrible example of those who have so dishonoured
it."
"The Star-Chamber will never desert its faithful servants, and such we
have been," said Sir Giles.
"Say rather the serpents it has nourished in its bosom," rejoined
Lanyere. "But to my case. Years ago, a gentleman possessed of noble
estates in Norfolk, was unfortunate enough to have some dealings with
these two usurers, who thus becoming acquainted with his circumstances,
marked him for their prey. He borrowed a large sum of money from them.
The loan was not obtained for himself, but for a younger brother"--here
the voice of the promoter was choked with emotion, and a few moments
elapsed before he could proceed--"I have said that the money was
borrowed, not for himself, but for a younger brother, whose recklessness
and extravagance had plunged him deeply in debt. Would that his too
generous relative had left him to his fate, and allowed him to rot in a
dungeon! But he rescued him from it, only to take his place in the end.
From this sad epoch may all the unfortunate gentleman's calamities be
dated. Certain title-deeds and other instruments had to be deposited
with Sir Giles and his partner, as security for repayment of the sum
borrowed. They were never returned. On the contrary, under one plea or
another, all the deeds relating to the property were obtained from its
unsuspecting owner; and then a mortgage deed covering the whole estates
was forged by them."
"'Tis false!" exclaimed Sir Giles.
"Have I your Highness's gracious promise of pardon to all except the
principals in these great offences?" pursued Lanyere.
"As it may materially serve the ends of justice that such promise should
be given, I do not hesitate to comply with your request," replied
Charles.
"In that case I shall be able to confound the villains with a witness
whom they little expect to be produced against them," replied Lanyere.
"Let Lupo Vulp be called," he added.
The summons was responded to as before by Luke Hatton, and the next
moment the ill-favoured scrivener emerged from behind the tapestry, and
made his way through the assemblage, who recoiled with abhorrence from
him, towards the Prince.
"Who art thou?" demanded Charles.
"I am named Lupo Vulp, your Highness, and have for many years been a
money-scrivener in the employ of these two gentlemen," replied the
individual addressed.
"Thou knowest all their transactions?" said Charles.
"No man better," answered Lupo; "unless it be Clement Lanyere."
"You remember a certain deed of mortgage from Sir Ferdinando Mounchensey
to your two employers?" said Lanyere.
"I remember it perfectly," returned the scrivener, "as I should do,
seeing I prepared it myself."
During all this time Lupo Vulp had kept his eyes upon the ground, and
had never dared to raise them towards Sir Giles, though he felt that the
gaze of the latter was fixed upon him.
"Was Sir Ferdinando's signature attached to that deed?" demanded
Lanyere.
"Look at me, Lupo, ere thou answerest," cried Sir Giles. "Look at me
well--and take heed what thou say'st."
"Be not influenced by him," interposed Charles. "Look only at me, and
speak truly, as thou valuest thy safety. If thou hidest aught, or
falsifiest aught, the heaviest punishment awaits thee!"
"Hark ye, Lupo," said Sir Giles, in a low tone. "Be warned by me. Utter
a word to my detriment, and as surely as thou art suborned to injure me,
I will hang thee. I _can_ do so, as thou knowest!"
"Fear him not, Lupo," said Lanyere. "Thou hast his Highness's gracious
promise of pardon."
"If my life be but spared, most gracious Prince," said the scrivener,
falling on his knees, and clasping his hands together in supplication,
"I will reveal all I know touching the malpractices of these two
persons."
"Speak, then, without fear," said Charles.
"I repeat my question," said Lanyere, "and demand an explicit answer to
it. What was the nature of that deed?"
"It was a forgery," replied the scrivener. "Sir Ferdinando Mounchensey
had nothing whatever to do with it. His signature was imitated from
other deeds in the possession of my employers, and his seal was likewise
fabricated."
"What say you to this, Sir?" said Charles, to Sir Giles.
"I deny it, as I do all the rest," he replied. "'Tis a foul conspiracy
against me, as will appear in the end."
"This is only one amongst many such frauds committed by them, your
Highness," said the scrivener. "Since I have your gracious promise of
pardon, I will make a clean breast of it, and reveal all I know. Many
and many a fair estate has been wrongfully wrested from its owner in
this way--by forged deed or will. I will name all the parties to your
Highness."
"Hereafter, I will listen to thee," rejoined Charles, motioning him to
rise; "but I shall now confine myself to the case immediately before me.
Proceed, Sir," he added, to Lanyere.
"I have come to the saddest and darkest part of all," said the promoter.
"Your Highness has seen that a deed was forged to obtain possession of
the Mounchensey estates--and the fraudulent design was only too
successful. It was in vain Sir Ferdinando denied all knowledge of the
instrument--in vain he refused payment of the large sum demanded--his
estates were seized by the extortioners--and he was deprived of the
power of redemption. He commenced a suit against them in the
Star-Chamber, but here again he was baffled by the cunning and knavery
of Sir Giles, and having unwittingly incurred the censure of the Court,
he was cast into the Fleet Prison, where he perished miserably."
"A lamentable history," exclaimed Charles. "It is grievous to think
that justice cannot be done him."
"Justice may be done his son," said Buckingham, "who has been oppressed
in like manner with his father. Restitution may be made him of the
estates of which he has been plundered."
"It is well," said Sir Giles, glancing at Lanyere. "You will not enjoy
them."
"What means he?" inquired Charles.
"The estates were assigned to this treacherous knave, your Highness,"
said Sir Giles, pointing to Lanyere, "for a certain consideration, which
was never performed. But, while denying, as I do most energetically,
that any underhand means whatever were used by us to obtain possession
of those estates, and repeating my declaration that a most artful
conspiracy has been formed against us, I assert, as will appear on
investigation, that if I fail in sustaining my claim to the Mounchensey
estates, they cannot go to Sir Jocelyn."
"Wherefore not?" inquired Charles.
"Because Sir Ferdinando left them to his brother Osmond. I have
possession of his will."
"It may be a forgery," said Charles.
"Not so, your Highness," observed Lupo Vulp. "This statement is
correct."
"I have it with me now," cried Sir Giles, producing a document. "Will it
please your Highness to look at it?" he added, handing it to the
Prince. "You will see that the estates are wholly left to Osmond
Mounchensey. If, therefore, your Highness should seek to deprive me of
them, you must bestow them as they are herein bequeathed."
"Undoubtedly, if this instrument be valid," said Charles, looking at
Lanyere.
"I do not dispute it, your Highness," said the promoter.
"But there is no proof that Osmond Mounchensey is living, your
Highness," observed Lupo Vulp. "He has not been heard of for many
years--not, indeed, since the time when his debts were paid by Sir
Ferdinando. Though Sir Giles has used every exertion for the purpose, he
has never been able to discover any traces of him--and it is reasonable,
therefore, to suppose that he is no more."
"That is false," cried Sir Giles. "It is true I have long sought for him
in vain--but within these few days I have obtained some tidings of him,
which, if followed up, will assuredly lead to his detection. Nay more,
Lanyere himself must know that he is alive, since, from the intelligence
I have received, he must have been recently in company with him."
"Is this assertion correct?" said Charles, to the promoter.
"It is, your Highness," replied Lanyere; "but I had good reasons for
concealing the circumstances."
"Undoubtedly," cried Sir Giles; "because you had ascertained from the
traitor Lupo that this will existed, and feared a claim might be
advanced to the estates--but they will never be yours, or Sir Jocelyn's.
If not mine, they are Osmond Mounchensey's."
"He says right," remarked Charles.
"Then learn to your confusion, villain, that Osmond Mounchensey stands
before you!" cried the promoter, addressing Sir Giles. "Behold him in
me!"
"You Osmond Mounchensey!" exclaimed Sir Giles; eyeing him with an
astonishment which was shared by Sir Francis and by the greater part of
the spectators. To judge from their manner, however, Prince Charles,
together with Buckingham and De Gondomar, did not seem unprepared for
the announcement.
"Ay," rejoined Osmond to Sir Giles. "Look on me if you can. Never should
my name have been revealed to you, except at a moment when there should
have been no chance of its repetition, on your part, but for my
brother's will, of the existence of which I have only been lately aware,
and which has obliged me to avow myself. But for this, I would have
remained for ever in obscurity, and have perished as I have lived--the
despised Clement Lanyere. The name of Mounchensey should not have been
shamed in me. But if I am the reproach of that ancient and honourable
house--untarnished by any other member of it--I am also its avenger, and
will wipe out effectually the stains you have cast upon it. By your
machinations, villain, was my brother destroyed--by your machinations
has his son been imprisoned, and his life endangered--by your
machinations I myself was censured by the terrible Star-Chamber, and its
severest punishments inflicted upon me. You knew not whom you tortured;
and had you been aware of my real name, even this wrong might not have
contented you. But no matter. From the hour when the tormentor, by your
order, did his work upon me, I devoted myself to vengeance--slow, sure
vengeance. I resolved not to interfere with your career of villany till
you were full-blown in crime; and though I have had some difficulty in
holding back my hand, I have been patient. The hour at length has
arrived, and I hold you firmly in my grasp. I have crushed in pieces the
whole of the fabric you have been at such pains to rear. Your estates
and all your possessions will be forfeited to the Crown; and, if you
escape with life, you will bear the indelible marks of disgrace which
you have inflicted upon me!"
Overpowered by what he heard, Sir Giles threw himself at the feet of
Charles.
"Do not sue to me, Sir," replied the Prince, regarding him with stern
displeasure. "Enough for you to know that I have been in this
much-injured gentleman's secret. Let your nephew now be introduced,
Sir," he added, to Osmond Mounchensey.
"His nephew!" muttered Sir Giles, as he arose. "Nay, then, all is
indeed lost!"
"I have felt that for a long time," groaned Sir Francis.