y English or
Perpendicular Gothic? What did interest her, was to see how lively and
warm was Pitt's knowledge and liking of all these things. Evidently he
delighted in them and was full of information concerning them; and his
interest did move Betty a little. It moved her to speculation also.
Could this man be so earnest in his enjoyment of Norman arches and
polished shafts and the effigies of old knights, and still hold to the
views and principles he had avowed and advocated last year? Could he,
who took such pleasure in the doings and records of the past, really
mean to attach himself to another sort of life, with which the honours
and dignities and delights of this common world have nothing to do?

The question recurred again afresh on their return home. As Betty
entered the house, she was struck by the beauty of the carved oak
staircase, and exclaimed upon it.

'Yes,' said Pitt; 'that is the prettiest part of the house. It is said
to be by Inigo Jones; but perhaps that cannot be proved.'

'Does it matter?' said Betty, laughing.

'Not to any real lover of it; but to the rest, you know, the name is
the thing.'

'"Lover of it"!' said Betty. 'Can you love a staircase?'

Pitt laughed out; then he answered seriously.

'Don't you know that all that is good and true is in a way bound up
together? it is one whole; and I take it to be certain that in
proportion to anyone's love for spiritual and moral beauty will be,
_coeteris paribus_, his appreciation of all expression of it, in nature
or art.'

'_But_', said Betty, '"spiritual and moral beauty"! You do not mean
that this oak staircase is an expression of either?'

'Of both, perhaps. At any rate, the things are very closely connected.'

'You are an enigma!' said Betty.

'I hope not always to remain so,' he answered.

Betty went up the beautiful staircase, noting as she went its beauties,
from storey to storey. She had not noticed it before, although it
really took up more room than was proportionate to the size of the
house. What did Pitt mean by those last words? she was querying. And
could it be possible that the owner of a house like this, with a
property corresponding, would not be of the world and live in the world
like other men? He must, Betty thought. It is all very well for people
who have not the means to make a figure in society, to talk of
isolating themselves from society. A man may give up a little; but when
he has much, he holds on to it. But h