“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.”