Lewes and Marian Evans soon became all the world to each other, but Lewes had an insane wife, and the foolish law of England forbade him to get a divorce or to marry again. So the two decided to live together and to be man and wife in everything except the sanction of the law. The result was disastrous for a time to the woman. There is no question that the social isolation that resulted hurt her deeply. Her close friends like Spencer remained loyal, and her husband was always the devoted lover as well as the ideal companion. Two years after this new connection Lewes induced his wife to try fiction. Her first story was _The Sad Adventures of the Rev. Amos Barton_ which was followed by _Janet's Repentance_. These stories appeared under the pen name of George Eliot, which she never relinquished. Gathered into book form under the title _Scenes From Clerical Life_, these stories in a minor key made a profound impression on Charles Dickens, who divined they were the work of a woman of unusual gifts. The praise of Lewes and the appreciation of Dickens and other experts gave great stimulus to her mind, and she produced _Adam Bede_, perhaps her best work, which had a great success. In the following year came _The Mill on the Floss_, an even greater success. Then in quick succession came the other early novels, _Silas Marner_, _Romola_ and _Felix Holt_. A break of six years follows, and then came _Middlemarch_ and _Daniel Deronda_. Lewes died in 1878, and two years later this woman, almost exhausted by her tremendous literary labors, married J.W. Cross, an old friend, but, like Charlotte Bronte, she had only short happiness, for she died in the following year. The nations praised her, but she never recovered from the shock of Lewes' death. Of George Eliot's work the things that impress one most are her fine descriptions of natural scenes, her keen analyses of character and her many little moral sermons on life and conduct. With an abnormal conscience and a keen sense of duty, life proved very hard for her. This is reflected in the somberness of her stories and in the dread atmosphere of fate that hangs over her characters. But over against this must be placed her joy in depicting the rustic character and humor and her delight in reproducing the scenes of her childhood in one of the most beautiful counties of England.