to ask her about her relations with Deronda?" said Grandcourt,
with the coldest possible sneer in his low voice which in poor
Gwendolen's ear was diabolical.

For the first time since their marriage she flashed out upon him
without inward check. Turning her eyes full on his she said, in a
biting tone--

"Yes; and what you said is false--a low, wicked falsehood."

"She told you so--did she?" returned Grandcourt, with a more thoroughly
distilled sneer.

Gwendolen was mute. The daring anger within her was turned into the
rage of dumbness. What reasons for her belief could she give? All the
reasons that seemed so strong and living within her--she saw them
suffocated and shrivelled up under her husband's breath. There was no
proof to give, but her own impression, which would seem to him her own
folly. She turned her head quickly away from him and looked angrily
toward the end of the room: she would have risen, but he was in her way.

Grandcourt saw his advantage. "It's of no consequence so far as her
singing goes," he said, in his superficial drawl. "You can have her to
sing, if you like." Then, after a pause, he added in his lowest
imperious tone, "But you will please to observe that you are not to go
near that house again. As my wife, you must take my word about what is
proper for you. When you undertook to be Mrs. Grandcourt, you undertook
not to make a fool of yourself. You have been making a fool of yourself
this morning; and if you were to go on as you have begun, you might
soon get yourself talked of at the clubs in a way you would not like.
What do _you_ know about the world? You have married _me_, and must be
guided by my opinion."

Every slow sentence of that speech had a terrific mastery in it for
Gwendolen's nature. If the low tones had come from a physician telling
her that her symptoms were those of a fatal disease, and
prognosticating its course, she could not have been more helpless
against the argument that lay in it. But she was permitted to move now,
and her husband never again made any reference to what had occurred
this morning. He knew the force of his own words. If this white-handed
man with the perpendicular profile had been sent to govern a difficult
colony, he might have won reputation among his contemporaries. He had
certainly ability, would have understood that it was safer to
exterminate than to cajole superseded proprietors, and would not have
flinched from making things safe in that way.