A Room with a View

round, and the light that filtered through them was subdued and varied. A poet-none was present-might have quoted, "Life like a dome of many coloured glass," or might have compared the

d in his chair and puffed and groaned, for the day was hot and the print small, and the human frame fearfully made; and his mother, who was writing a letter, did continually read out to h

who was Freddy, Lucy's brother. "

then?" cried Mrs. Honeychurch, who hoped to cur

d not mov

, rather wanting her son's opinion on the situation

they

ecil is asking he

third go,

all the way yo

in Italy. I don't know how girls manage things, but she can't have said 'No' properly before, or she

d, dear? How

l-neve

ned to h

ve written to Mrs. Vyse.

u told me. A jol

it. But-'" She stopped reading, "I was rather amused at Cecil asking my permission at all. He has always gone in

r m

ou

dy n

do you

for my perm

d: "How very

and heir. "Why shouldn't

Lucy or girls or anythin

her or leave her; it's

answer, though more normal in its w

is this,"

shy to say what the bother was. Mrs.

st come. There

ought to go pee

! Can't I look out

22?" Freddy snorted, and turned over two leaves. For a brief space they were silent. C

s to say, I said, 'I don't mind'-well, not content with that, he wanted to know whether I wasn't off my head with joy. He practically put it like this:

ave a careful

"There! Fly into a stew! I can't help it-had to say

lly it's only abominable conceit. Do you suppose that a man like Cecil would take the

if I didn't mean what I said, and, as Cecil laughed too, and went away, it may be all r

ll not keep quiet. You know all that has passed between them in Rome; you know why he i

dn't like him. I don't hate him, but I don't

t the curtai

ted-Oh, you needn't kick the piano! He's well connected-I'll say it again if you like: he's well connected." She p

him spoiling Lucy's first week at home; and it's

ing to conceal her interest. "I d

I was very cute, I asked him what he meant. He said 'Oh, he's like me-better detached.' I couldn't make him say any

u are jealous of Cecil because he m

r being athletic. Was that it? Cecil made one talk in one's own way. This tired one. Was that it? And Cecil was the kind of fellow who would never wear

e the letter out again-'and I have told Lucy so. But Lucy seems very uncertain, and in these days young people must decide for themselves.' I said that because I didn't want Mrs. Vyse to think us old-fashione

cil, would she live in a

your son, because she tells me everything, and she wrote to me from Rome when he asked her first.' No, I'll cross th

ut, too," s

ychurch l

ted if Lucy wishes it, and I have told Lucy so. But Lucy seems very uncertain, and in these days young people mu

t!" crie

rtains

eir poles. Light entered. There was revealed a terrace, such as is owned by many villas with trees each side of it, and on it a little rustic seat, and two flower-beds. But it was transfigured by the view b

l en

sembled those fastidious saints who guard the portals of a French cathedral. Well educated, well endowed, and not deficient physically, he remained in the grip of a certain devil whom the modern world knows as self-consciousness, and whom the medieval, with dimmer vision

r on the writing table and move

exclaimed-"oh, Ce

si sposi,

ed at him

nd of the thing in English made him flush a

they also knew Italian, for our phrases of approval and of amazement are so connected with little occasions that we

ving her hand at the furniture. "This is indeed a joyous

e young man, shifting h

sentimental, bombastic-all the things she hated most. Why could she not be Freddy,

d Cecil, for convers

st as if she was going to ask them to play tennis. Then she saw her brother'

for me?" ask

ssed he

l Mrs. Honeychurch all about it?" Cecil sugg

" said Freddy, as

u go wit

ould descend-he knew their ways-past the shrubbery, and past the tennis-lawn and the dahlia-bed, until they reache

ette, and rehearsed the events that

s. That day she had seemed a typical tourist-shrill, crude, and gaunt with travel. But Italy worked some marvel in her. It gave her light, and-which he held more precious-it gave her shadow. Soon he detected in her a wonderful reticence. She was like a woman

usal had been clear and gentle; after it-as the horrid phrase went-she had been exactly the same to him as before. Three months later, on the margin of Italy, among the flower-clad Alps, he had asked her again in bald, traditional language. She reminded him of a Leonardo more than ev

y reasons for her delay, but simply saying that she loved him and would do her best to make him happ

ting table. There he saw "Dear Mrs. Vyse," followed by many erasures. He recoiled without readi

Maple arriving at the door and depositing this chair, those varnished book-cases, that writing-table. The table recalled Mrs. Honeychurch's letter. He did not want to read that letter-his temptations never lay in that direction; but he worried about it none the less. It was his own fault that she was discussing him with his mother; he had wanted

cy was of another clay; and perhaps-he did not put it very definitely-h

et was shown in; he had at once started on friendly relations

d him rather

. Vyse. Do you suppose

does get here-Don't sit in that chair; y

fu

know. I can't think why M

re separately; he did not realize that, taken togethe

a and for gossip.

derstand you," sa

as of a very different

ry reason to hope that I am first in the field.

ikely that a clergyman and a gentleman would refer to his engagement in a manner so flippant? But his stiffne

t to have met Cissie and Albert, the semi-detached villas that have b

nd a Local Government Board. Perhaps there is no difference, or perhaps those aren't the right names. I only go into the country to see my

vy reception of Cissie and Albert

yse-I forget-what

-is that so long as I am no trouble to any one I have a right to do as I like. I know I ought to be getting money

. Beebe. "It is a wonderful oppor

is way to answering naturally. He felt, as all who have re

aren't face the healthy person-f

s a good sor

rt who has made En

by inquiring effusively after Mr. Beebe's mother, an old lady for whom he had no particular regard. Then he fl

Beebe at last, "I insist on extra

ves. The fault of Anne is that she begs your pardon when she hears you perfectly, and kicks the chair-legs with

y. She leaves the dust-pa

he will not, simply will not, ch

d, and things be

f Freddy-" Ce

remember the faults of Freddy. Try the faults

d the young man, wi

e. At present

pres

fully, and live so quietly? I suspect that one day she will be wonderful in both. The water-tight compartments in her will break do

his companio

hink her not wonderfu

ame to Summer Street she has been away. You saw her, didn't you, at Rome and in the Alps. Oh, I forgot; of cours

what

able to them, and they were p

found wings, and meant to use them. I can show you a beautiful picture in my Italian diary: Miss

rwards, when he viewed things artistically. At the tim

string ne

eychurch rise, but I should certai

said the young man in

of announcing an engagement this was the worst. He cursed his love of metaphor

What do y

stiffly, "that she i

me bitter disappointment which he

uld never have talked in this flippant, superficial way. Mr. Vyse, you ought to h

ption his action would get from the world? Of course, he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man shoul

he could be

he said dryly. "I fear that Lucy's ch

church only a little as time goes. Perhaps I oughtn't to have

of having said so

the art of placing one in the most tiresome positions.

has learnt-you will let me talk freely, as I have begun freely-she has learnt what it is to love: the greatest lesson, some people will tell you, that our earthly life provides." It was now time for him to wave

aid Cecil, who di

ch as she toiled up the sloping garden.

tled the wedding march. Youth seldo

urch, I'm going to do what I am always supposed to do, but generally I'm too shy. I want to invoke every kind of blessing on them, grave and gay, gre

me," the lady retorted. "How dare

no more attempts to dignify the situation with poetry or the S

resence and in the presence of each other they were sincerely hilarious. It has a strange power, for it compels not only the lips, but the very heart. The chief parallel to compare one great thing with another-is the power over u

g down each plate as if it were a wedding present, stimulated them greatly. They could not lag behind that smile of hers which she gave them ere she kicked the drawing-room door. Mr. Beebe chirruped. Freddy was at his wittiest, referring to Cecil as the "Fiasco"-family honoure