riends, Mr. Cross, who was an old
and valued one, began to visit her and be helpful to her in many ways,
and he soon became a comfort to that gentle nature to which some prop
was indispensable. She grew accustomed to him, and began to rely upon
his support. After a while she could read with him, and her mind renewed
its vigor. Still later she could play for him, and the consolation of
music was added to her life. As the months went by she leaned upon him
more and more, and found real comfort in his kindly ministrations. This
is the first allusion to him in her letters:--

"I have a comfortable country practitioner to watch over me from
day to day, and there is a devoted friend who is backward and
forward continually to see that I lack nothing."

Of the outcome of that watchful tenderness Mr. Cross says:--

"As the year went on George Eliot began to see all her old friends
again. But her life was nevertheless a life of heart-loneliness.
Accustomed as she had been for so many years to _solitude a deux_,
the want of close companionship continued to be very bitterly felt.
She was in the habit of going with me very frequently to the
National Gallery and to other exhibitions of pictures. This
constant companionship engrossed me completely and was a new
interest to her. A bond of mutual dependence had been formed
between us. It was finally decided that our marriage should take
place as soon and as privately as possible."

She writes thus of this marriage:--

"All this is wonderful blessing falling to me beyond my share,
after I had thought that my life was ended, and that, so to speak,
my coffin was ready for me in the next room. Deep down below there
is a hidden river of sadness, but this must always be with those
who have lived so long; but I am able to enjoy my newly reopened
life. I shall be a better, more loving creature than I could have
been in solitude. To be constantly, lovingly grateful for the gift
of a perfect love is the best illumination of one's mind to all the
possible good there may be in store for man on this troublous
little planet. I was getting hard, and if I had decided differently
I think I should have become selfish.

"The whole history is something like a miracle-legend. But instead
of any former affection being displaced, I seem to have recovered
the loving sympa