At that time Edmund Yule was still living; he had overcome his
prejudices, and there was intercourse between his household and
that of the literary man. Intimacy it could not be called, for
Mrs Edmund (who was the daughter of a law-stationer) had much
difficulty in behaving to Mrs Alfred with show of suavity. Still,
the cousins Amy and Marian from time to time saw each other, and
were not unsuitable companions. It was the death of Amy's father
that brought these relations to an end; left to the control of
her own affairs Mrs Edmund was not long in giving offence to Mrs
Alfred, and so to Alfred himself. The man of letters might be
inconsiderate enough in his behaviour to his wife, but as soon as
anyone else treated her with disrespect that was quite another
matter. Purely on this account he quarrelled violently with his
brother's widow, and from that day the two families kept apart.

The chapter of quarrels was one of no small importance in
Alfred's life; his difficult temper, and an ever-increasing sense
of neglected merit, frequently put him at war with publishers,
editors, fellow-authors, and he had an unhappy trick of exciting
the hostility of men who were most likely to be useful to him.
With Mr Polo, for instance, who held him in esteem, and whose
commercial success made him a valuable connection, Alfred
ultimately broke on a trifling matter of personal dignity. Later
came the great quarrel with Clement Fadge, an affair of
considerable advantage in the way of advertisement to both the
men concerned. It happened in the year 1873. At that time Yule
was editor of a weekly paper called The Balance, a literary organ
which aimed high, and failed to hit the circulation essential to
its existence. Fadge, a younger man, did reviewing for The
Balance; he was in needy circumstances, and had wrought himself