Daniel Deronda Chapter 57 Summary

  • Gwendolen sends for Daniel again. He sits by her. She asks if anyone else needs to know what happened. Daniel says it won't help anything.
  • She asks if it was possible that she could have saved Grandcourt. Daniel doesn't think so – if Grandcourt could swim, he probably had a cramp and it would have been too hard for Gwendolen to save him.
  • Gwendolen tells him there's still more to the story – Grandcourt should have married someone else.
  • Daniel tells Gwendolen that it's possible for her to become a better person than she's ever been. He also tells her that they will return to England ASAP.
  • Gwendolen asks Daniel if he would have thought the same of her if he met her now as he did when he met her at Leubronn. He says probably.
  • Gwendolen begs Daniel not to wish that he had never met her. Daniel says he would hate himself for thinking that.
  • Daniel leaves. Gwendolen bursts into tears, and is still crumpled up in a heap on the floor when people come into her room the next day. They think it's normal for a woman whose husband just died to seem so sad.