“For any wrong I may have done Sir Jocelyn I am heartily sorry,” said Buckingham, frankly.  “And he may rely on my present oiler of friendship.”

“And on mine, too,” subjoined De Gondomar.  “The services I have rendered him must be set against any mischief I have subsequently done.”

“You make me more than amends,” said Sir Jocelyn, bowing to them, “and I at once accept your proffered friendship.”

“You are in the midst of friends and foes, Sir Jocelyn,” said Prince Charles, “and have before you a new-found relative; and not far distant from you one, whom—­unless I am greatly mistaken—­has the strongest hold upon your affections; but before you turn to her, or to any one, listen to the sentence, which in the King’s name I shall pronounce upon those two offenders—­a sentence which most assuredly will be ratified by his Majesty in person, and by the Lords of the Council of the Star-Chamber, before whom they will be brought.  Hear me, then, ye wrong-doers.  Ye shall be despoiled of your unjustly-acquired possessions, which will be escheated to the Crown.  Where restitution is possible, it shall be made.”

“Restitution by the Crown!—­a likely thing!” muttered Sir Giles.

“Moreover, ye shall pay for your misdeeds in person,” pursued Charles.  “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.  This being done to you, and no part of the torture being on any plea omitted, ye shall be brought back to the Fleet Prison, and be there incarcerated for the residue of your lives.”

Mompesson heard this sentence apparently unmoved, though his flashing eye betrayed, in some degree, his secret emotion.  Not so his partner.  Flinging himself on his knees before the Prince, he cried in piteous tones—­“I confess my manifold offences, and own that my sentence is lenient in comparison with them.  But I beseech your Highness to spare me the mutilation and branding.  All else I will patiently endure.”

“He merits no compassion,” said Buckingham, “and yet I would intercede for him.”

“And your intercession shall avail to the extent which he himself hath mentioned—­but no further,” rejoined Charles.

“I solicit nothing—­and I confess nothing,” said Mompesson, in a tone of defiance.  “If I am ever brought to trial I shall know how to defend myself.  But I well know that will never be.  I can make such revelations concerning those in high places—­ay, in the highest places,” he added, with a vindictive look at Buckingham, “that they will not dare to molest me.”

“The hound must be muzzled,” said Buckingham, in a low tone, to the Prince.

“He must,” replied Charles.  “Let the prisoners be removed.  They are committed to the Fleet Prison.”