"You shall rue this, villain!--you shall rue it bitterly," Sir Francis
cried, shaking his clenched hands at him. "Your father perished like a
dog in the Fleet, and you shall perish there likewise. You have put
yourself wholly in my power, and I will make a fearful example of you.
You have dared to utter scandalous and contemptuous language against the
great and high court of Star-Chamber, before the decrees of which, all
men bow; impugning its justice and denying its authority; and you shall
feel the full weight of its displeasure. I call upon these worthy
gentlemen to testify against you."

"We have heard nothing, and can testify nothing," several voices cried.

"But you, Sir, who were next him, you must have heard him?" Sir Francis
said, addressing the elderly man in the furred gown.

"Not I!" rejoined the person appealed to; "I gave no heed to what was
said."

"But I did, Sir Francis," squeaked a little whey-faced man, in a large
ruff and tight-laced yellow doublet, from the opposite side of the
table; "I heard him most audaciously vilipend the high court of
Star-Chamber and its councils; and I will bear testimony against him
when called upon."

"Your name, good Sir, your name?" Sir Francis demanded, taking out his
tablets.

"Set me down as Thopas Trednock, tailor, at the sign of the Pressing
Iron, in Cornhill," the whey-faced man replied, in his shrill tones,