Collins`s most famous novel, The Woman in White, depicts transgressive gender, yet the author`s Preamble seems to reaffirm the rigid Victorian gender system by emphasizing man`s action and woman`s passivity. Using Kahn`s notion of ``narrative transvestism,`` this essay shows how Collins exploits the cultural associations of the feminine with a private, secretive space of intimate feeling. Drawing on the marginalization of Marian after her apparent illness and the reappearance of Hartright with editorial authority, this essay examines how the hero can be aligned with Fosco, the villain of the novel: silencing a female narrator, violating her private spaces, and even producing a relativized truth. While a feminized Fosco easily accesses a culturally defined female sensibility but runs no risk of losing his authority, a masculine Marian is punished for assuming a man`s position. By editing Marian`s diary at his convenience, Hartright reverses the previous hierarchical relationship with her from an employed instructor to a surrogate lawyer and editor, and consolidates his masculine identity. Ultimately, this essay argues that Hartright, who makes the novel into a marriage plot, encloses and confines a disruptive feminine principle within his authoritative narrative.