d been in prison in danger of being
condemned to death. When she was in Park Lane and knew that the baronet
would be going down to the Abbey immediately (just to see his family
for a couple of days and then return to transact needful business for
Gwendolen), she said to him without any air of hesitation, while her
mother was present--

"Sir Hugo, I wish to see Mr. Deronda again as soon as possible. I don't
know his address. Will you tell it me, or let him know that I want to
see him?"

A quick thought passed across Sir Hugo's face, but made no difference
to the ease with which he said, "Upon my word, I don't know whether
he's at his chambers or the Abbey at this moment. But I'll make sure of
him. I'll send a note now to his chambers telling him to come, and if
he's at the Abbey I can give him your message and send him up at once.
I am sure he will want to obey your wish," the baronet ended, with
grave kindness, as if nothing could seem to him more in the appropriate
course of things than that she should send such a message.

But he was convinced that Gwendolen had a passionate attachment to
Deronda, the seeds of which had been laid long ago, and his former
suspicion now recurred to him with more strength than ever, that her
feeling was likely to lead her into imprudences--in which kind-hearted
Sir Hugo was determined to screen and defend her as far as lay in his
power. To him it was as pretty a story as need be that this fine
creature and his favorite Dan should have turned out to be formed for
each other, and that the unsuitable husband should have made his exit
in such excellent time. Sir Hugo liked that a charming woman should be
made as happy as possible. In truth, what most vexed his mind in this
matter at present was a doubt whether the too lofty and inscrutable Dan
had not got some scheme or other in his head, which would prove to be
dearer to him than the lovely Mrs. Grandcourt, and put that
neatly-prepared marriage with her out of the question. It was among the
usual paradoxes of feeling that Sir Hugo, who had given his fatherly
cautions to Deronda against too much tenderness in his relations with
the bride, should now feel rather irritated against him by the
suspicion that he had not fallen in love as he ought to have done. Of
course all this thinking on Sir Hugo's part was eminently premature,
only a fortnight or so after Grandcourt's death. But it is the trick of
thinking to be either premature or behind-