'Is it? But I am accustomed to purer air. I do not like so much smoke.'
'You were interested in the monuments?' said Mrs. Dallas.
'Honestly, I am not fond of monuments. Besides, there is really a reminiscence of the Tower and the axe there very often. I had no conception London was such a place.'
'Let us take her to Hyde Park and show her something cheerful, Pitt.'
'I should like above all things to go to the House of Commons and hear a debate—if it could be managed.'
Pitt said it could be managed; and it was managed; and they went to the Park; and they drove out to see some of the beauties near London, Richmond, Hampton Court, and Windsor; and several days passed away in great enjoyment for the whole party. Betty forgot the Tower and grew gay. The strangeness of her position was forgotten; the house came to be familiar; the alternation of sight-seeing with the quiet household life was delightful. Nothing could be better, might it last. Could it not last? Nay, Betty would have relinquished the sight-seeing and bargained for only the household life, if she could have retained that.
CHAPTER XLIII.
MARTIN'S COURT.
'What is for to-day, Pitt?'
There had been a succession of rather gay days, visiting of galleries and palaces. Mrs. Dallas put the question at breakfast.