went into society, and she received but few visitors, except on Sunday
afternoons. Her letters were written by Mr. Lewes, with the exception of
those to personal friends or an occasional outside correspondent; and all
the details of the publication of her books and the management of her
business affairs were in his hands. The immediate success of her novels
made them profitable to the publisher, and she was paid comparatively large
sums for them.

Her evenings were spent by Mrs. Lewes at home, in reading and singing,
unless she went to the theatre, as she often did. She walked much, often
visiting the zoological gardens, and she had a great liking for all kinds
of small animals. She greatly enjoyed travelling. Music was her passion,
and art her delight. She preferred the realistic painters, and she never
tired of the collections she often visited in London.

The health of Mrs. Lewes was never good. She was a constant sufferer, was
nervous, excitable and low-spirited. Only by the utmost care and husbanding
of her powers was she enabled to accomplish her work. In a note to one of
her correspondents she has given some hint of the almost chronic languor
and bodily weakness from which she suffered.

The weather, our ailments, and various other causes, have made us put
off our flight from one week to another, but now we are really
fluttering our wings and making a dust about us. I wish we had seen you
oftener. I was placidly looking forward to your staying in England
another year or more, and gave way to my general languor about seeing
friends in these last months, which have been too full of small bodily
miseries for me to feel that I had much space to give to pleasanter
occupation.