I like myself better than I should have liked my aunt and you.

How dreadfully dull you must have been!" Such tender cajolery served to quiet the mother, as it had often done before after like collisions.

Not that the collisions had often been repeated at the same point; for in the memory of both they left an association of dread with the particular topics which had occasioned them: Gwendolen dreaded the unpleasant sense of compunction toward her mother, which was the nearest approach to self-condemnation and self-distrust that she had known; and Mrs.Davilow's timid maternal conscience dreaded whatever had brought on the slightest hint of reproach.

Hence, after this little scene, the two concurred in excluding Mr.Grandcourt from their conversation.
When Mr.Gascoigne once or twice referred to him, Mrs.Davilow feared least Gwendolen should betray some of her alarming keen-sightedness about what was probably in her uncle's mind; but the fear was not justified.

Gwendolen knew certain differences in the characters with which she was concerned as birds know climate and weather; and for the very reason that she was determined to evade her uncle's control, she was determined not to clash with him.