"I could not say that of Corisande," said the duchess.

"I think we agree on all the great things," said Lothair, musingly.
"Her church views may be a little higher than mine, but I do not
anticipate any permanent difficulty on that head. Although my uncle
made me go to kirk, I always hated it and always considered myself a
churchman. Then, as to churches themselves, she is in favor of building
churches, and so am I; and schools -- there is no quantity of schools I
would not establish. My opinion is, you cannot have too much education,
provided it be founded on a religious basis. I would sooner renounce
the whole of my inheritance than consent to secular education."

"I should be sorry to see any education but a religious education,"
remarked the duchess.

"Well, then," said Lothair, "that is our life, or a great part of it.
To complete it, here is that to which I really wish to devote my
existence, and in which I instinctively feel Lady Corisande would
sympathize with me -- the extinction of pauperism."

"That is a vast subject;" said the duchess.

"It is the terror of Europe and the disgrace of Britain," said Lothair;
"and I am resolved to grapple with it. It seems to me that pauperism is
not an affair so much of wages as of dwellings. If the working-classes
were properly lodged, at their present rate of wages, they would be
richer. They would be healthier and happier at the same cost. I am so
convinced of this, that the moment I am master, I shall build two
thousand cottages on any estates. I have the designs already."