At last Browne could bear the silence no longer. Advancing towards the girl, he managed to obtain possession of her hands before she became aware of his intention.
Holding them in his, he looked into her face and spoke.
"Katherine," he said, in a voice that trembled with emotion, "cannot you guess why I am here?"
"I understood that you came to see Madame Bernstein," she faltered, not daring to look up into his face.
"You know as well as I do that, while I made that the excuse, it was not my real reason," he answered. "Katherine, I came to see you because I have something to say to you, which must be said at once, which cannot be delayed any longer. I would have spoken to you in London, had you vouchsafed me an opportunity, but you left so suddenly that I never had the chance of opening my lips. What I want to tell you, Katherine, is, that I love you with my whole heart and soul; God knows I love you better than my life, and I shall love you to the day of my death."
She uttered a little cry, and endeavoured to withdraw her hands from his grasp, but he would not let them go.
"Surely you must have known all this long since," he continued with relentless persistence. "You believe, don't you, that I mean what I say?"
"I must not hear you," she answered. "I cannot bear it. You do not know what you are saying."
"I know all I want to know," said Browne; "and I think, Katherine, you on your part know how deeply in earnest I am. Try to remember, before you speak, that the whole happiness of my life is at stake."
"That is exactly why I say that I cannot listen to you," she answered, still looking away.