Jack buried his face in his hands. "Yes," he confessed. "He came the night we were married. I met him in the garden. He paid that money he had borrowed from me when he went away."
Horror-struck, Echo turned to him. "He was there that night?" she gasped. "Oh, Jack. You knew, and you never told me. I had given my word to marry him—you, knowing that, have done this thing to me?" Her deep emotion showed itself in her voice. The more Jack told her the worse became her plight.
"I loved you." Jack was defending himself now, fighting for his love.
"Did Dick believe I knew he was living?" continued the girl mercilessly.
"He must have done so."
"Jack! Jack!" sobbed Echo, tears streaming down her face.
"What could I do? I was almost mad with fear of losing you. I was tempted to kill him then and there. I left your father to guard the door—to keep him out until after the ceremony."
Jack could scarcely control his voice. The sight of Echo's suffering unmanned him.
"My father, too," wailed Echo.
"He thought only of your happiness," Jack claimed.