middling with me is another phrase for being dull. And the worst fault I have to find with the world is, that it is dull. Do you know, I am going to justify gambling in spite of you. It is a refuge from dulness."
"I don't admit the justification," said Deronda. "I think what we call the dulness of things is a disease in ourselves. Else how could any one find an intense interest in life? And many do."
"Ah, I see! The fault I find in the world is my own fault," said Gwendolen, smiling at him. Then after a moment, looking up at the ivory again, she said, "Do you never find fault with the world or with others?"
"Oh yes. When I am in a grumbling mood."
"And hate people? Confess you hate them when they stand in your way—when their gain is your loss? That is your own phrase, you know."
"We are often standing in each other's way when we can't help it. I think it is stupid to hate people on that ground."
"But if they injure you and could have helped it?" said Gwendolen, with a hard intensity unaccountable in incidental talk like this.
Deronda wondered at her choice of subjects.
