"Stop!" he commanded.
"Bud Lane!" exclaimed Echo, "you have heard—"
"I've heard—my brother—he is alive!"
Bud spoke rapidly. His belief was confirmed. He would have full revenge for what his brother had suffered at Payson's hands.
To Echo's plea of "Don't stop me!" he shouted: "No!" and caught the young wife, and pulled her back from the doorway. Echo struggled to free herself, but the young man was too strong.
"He had ruined Dick's life, stolen from him the woman he loved," he hissed in her ear.
"Jack! Jack!" was her only answer.
"No, he sha'n't come back—let him go as he let my brother go, out of your life forever."
"I can't—I can't. I love him!"
Throwing Bud off, she ran to the door. Bud pulled his revolver, and cried: "If he enters that door I'll kill him."