The soft wind sighing past the window seemed to echo that heavy word "despair."
"At the door of John Glenalvan lies your sorrow and mine," continued Richard Leith, "I am come to call him to account."
"Who are you that dares arraign John Glenalvan?" exclaimed a harsh, blatant voice, as the speaker strode rudely into their presence.
Richard Leith sprang to his feet and confronted the intruder. His dark eyes blazed with wrath as he answered:
"I am Richard Leith, the husband of Golden Glenalvan, whom you falsely reported dead to gain some wicked end of your own. Liar, I have found you out in your sin! I demand my wronged wife at your hands."
John Glenalvan glared lividly at the daring man who thus boldly confronted him with his sin.
The blood retreated from his face and lips, and his eyes were wild and startled.
"Answer me," cried Richard Leith, advancing upon him. "Where is Golden, my wife?"
"You lie! She was never your wife," John Glenalvan retorted, furiously.
"Shame upon you, John, to malign the fair name of your sister," cried his father, indignantly. "Rather rejoice that she is proved innocent at last."