not. Much as her waywardness and hastiness were at fault, he was still more to blame in effecting the rupture between them.
The strain upon Eliza's nervous system, caused by almost daily quarrels and scenes of violence, was more than she could bear. Then, to add to her misery, she found herself in that condition in which women are apt to be peculiarly susceptible and irritable. Her prospect of maternity so stimulated her abnormal emotional excitement that her reason gave way, and for months she was insane. Though she had passive intervals, she was at times very violent, and disastrous results were feared. It was necessary for someone to keep constant guard over her, and Mary was asked to undertake this task.
Relentless as Fate in pursuing the hero of Greek Tragedy to his predestined end, were the circumstances which formed Mary's prejudice against the institution of marriage. This was the third domestic tragedy caused by the husband's petty tyranny and the wife's slender resources of defence, of which she was the immediate witness. Her experience was unfortunate. The bright side of the married state was hidden from her. She saw only its shadows, and these darkened until her soul rebelled against the injustice, not of life, but of man's shaping of it. Sad as was the fate of the Bloods, and much as they needed her, the Bishop household was still sadder and its appeals more urgent, and Mary hurried thither at once.
Without a murmur she left Walham Green and established herself as nurse and keeper to the poor mad sister. There could be no greater heroism than this. With a nervous constitution not unlike that of "poor
