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Infuriated by the unexpected resistance he encountered, Sir Giles, at length, resolved to terminate the fight; and, finding his antagonist constantly upon some sure ward, endeavoured to reach him with a half incartata; but instantly shifting his body with marvellous dexterity, Jocelyn struck down the other's blade, and replied with a straight thrust, which must infallibly have taken effect, if his rapier had not been beaten from his grasp by Clement Lanyere at the very moment it touched his adversary's breast.
I have nothing to apprehend from you now," replied Lanyere; "but you have much to fear from me." So saying, and placing the parchment within his doublet, he hastily quitted the chamber. "Perdition! have I been outwitted?" cried Sir Giles. "But he shall not escape me." And rushing after him, he called from the head of the great staircase "What, ho!
There was an earnestness in the speaker's manner that could not fail to carry conviction of his sincerity to the breast of his hearer. "By my soul, I speak the truth," said Lanyere, perceiving the impression he had made, "as you will find if you go many steps further. Place yourself in my hands, and I will save you." "What motive can you have for acting thus?" demanded Sir Jocelyn.
This was Luke Hatton, who, at the very moment that Lanyere appeared, issued from the chamber where the marriage ceremony was being performed. "Be not alarmed, fair maiden," said Lanyere, in a low voice, "you are in no danger; and all your troubles, I trust, are well-nigh ended. I thought you were in the marriage-chamber. Give me your hand.
At this juncture, Sir Giles Mompesson, who had been hitherto restrained by the presence of the royal guest from any violent measures, was advancing with menacing looks towards Lanyere, when the attention of Charles being directed to his movements by Buckingham, the Prince instantly arose, and in a tone of authority not to be disputed, said "Not a step further, Sir Giles.
"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.
"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?"
"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.
No one is permitted to enter it without him. Though his myrmidons are fully aware of its existence, and can give a shrewd guess at its contents, only two of them have set foot within it. The two thus privileged are Clement Lanyere and Lupo Vulp.
"Degraded from the knighthood ye have dishonoured, and with all the ceremonies of debasement, when ye have become Giles Mompesson and Francis Mitchell, knaves, ye shall undergo precisely the same ignominious punishment, with all its dreadful details, which ye caused to be inflicted upon him you supposed to be Clement Lanyere.
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