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RECOGNITION.5is not as fond of me as he was, he is quite asobedient." Thecynical natureof the man shoyveclitself in the impatient yveariness yvith yvhich hethought of his success, and in the leydty withyvhich he dismissed,or at least tried to dismiss,the subject from his mind. There was, however,one insuperable obstacle to his getting rid of it— his yvife.Harriet had miscalculated her strength; notthe strength of her intellect, but that of hernerves, and the strain had told upon them.Shestill loved her husband yvith a desperate kind oflove; but all its peace, all its strength, all itsfrankness — and even in the ey-il life they hadahvays led it had possessed these qualities — hadvanished.She loved him now yvith all the oldintensity of passion, but with an element of fiercenessadded to it, with a horrid craving ancl fear,sometimes with a sudden repulsion, which she rebelledagainst as physical cowardice, causing herto shrink from him in the darkness, and to shuther ears from the sound of his breathing in hissleep. And then she yvould upbraid herselffiercely, ancl ask herself if she, whohad given him