He interrupted her. “No, no,” he said jocularly—-his last remarks had put him into a state of considerable self-satisfaction, and he no more thought it possible that she could or would refuse him than that the sky could fall—“do not buy a pig in a poke! Hear me out first, Miss Kate, and we shall start fair. You have been in my house, and, if it is not quite so large a house as this, I will answer for it you will find it a great deal more lively. You will see people you have never seen here, nor will see while your name is Bonamy. You will have—well, altogether a better time. Not that I mind myself,” the doctor added rather vaguely, forgetting the French proverb about those who excuse themselves, “what your name is, not I! So don’t you think you could say Yes at once, my dear?” He took a step nearer, thinking he had put it rather neatly and without any nonsense. Possibly, from his point of view of things, he had. But Kate fell back, nevertheless, as he advanced. “Oh, no,” she said, flushing painfully. “I could not! I could not indeed, Dr. Gregg! I am very sorry.” “Come, come,” he said, holding out his hand, his tone one of pleasant raillery. He had looked for some hanging back, some show of coyness and bashfulness, and was prepared to laugh in his sleeve at it—“I think you can, Kate. I think it is possible.” That it was in woman’s nature to say No to his comfortable home and the little lift in society he had to offer—it is only little lifts we appreciate, just up the next floor above us—he did not believe. But Kate soon undeceived him. “I am afraid it is not possible,” she said firmly. “Indeed, I may say at once, Dr. Gregg, that it is out of the question what you ask; though I thank you, I am sure.” His face fell ludicrously, and his thick black brows drew together in a very ominous fashion. But he still could not believe that she meant it. “I do not think you understand,” he said, “that the house is ready, and the furniture and servants, and there is nothing to prevent you stepping into it all whenever you please. I will take you away from this,” he continued, darting a scornful glance round the stiff chilly room—“I do not suppose that ten people enter this room in the twelvemonth—and I will show you something like life. It is an offer not many would make you. Come, Kate, do not be a little fool! You are not going to say No, so say Yes at once. And don’t let us shilly-shally!” He had put out his hand as he spoke and captured hers. But she snatched it from him again almost roughly, and stepped back. The right man might have used the words the doctor used, and might have scolded her with impunity, but not the wrong one. Her face, perplexed and troubled a moment before, grew decided enough now. “I am going to say No, nevertheless, Dr. Gregg,” she replied firmly. “I thought I had already said it. I will be as plain as you have been. I do not like you as a wife should like her husband, nor otherwise than as a friend.”