Now the anticipation was mingled with
dread. He not only had no care for her, not only showed that he felt
her a burden upon him; his disposition now was one of hatred, and
the kind of hatred which sooner or later breaks out in ferocity. Bob
would not have come to this pass--at all events not so soon--if
he had been left to the dictates of his own nature; he was infected
by the savagery of the woman who had taken possession of him. Her
lust of cruelty crept upon him like a disease, the progress of which
was hastened by all the circumstances of his disorderly life. The
man was conscious of his degradation; he knew how he had fallen ever
since he began criminal practices; he knew the increasing
hopelessness of his resolves to have done with dangers and recover
his peace of mind. The loss of his daily work, in consequence of
irregularity, was the last thing needed to complete his ruin. He did
not even try to get new employment, feeling that such a show of
honest purpose was useless. Corruption was eating to his heart; from
every interview with Clem he came away a feebler and a baser being.
And upon the unresisting creature who shared his home he had begun
to expend the fury of his self-condemnation.
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