A Room with a View

The Sovereign Exchange

Miss Bartlett discovers that she has only sovereigns and pennies in her purse, and asks if anyone can give her change. Freddy produces half a quid and his friend has four half-crowns, but the complication arises: who should receive the sovereign? Lucy suggests waiting until her mother returns to handle the matter, but Miss Bartlett refuses, insisting on the prompt settling of accounts. At this point, Mr. Floyd makes the one remark of his that deserves quoting: he offers to toss Freddy for Miss Bartlett’s pound. Even Cecil, who has been ostentatiously drinking his tea while admiring the view, feels the eternal attraction of Chance and turns round with interest. Yet this solution falls through. Miss Bartlett cannot bear the thought of gambling: “Please—please—I know I am a sad spoil-sport, but it would make me wretched. I should practically be robbing the one who lost.” Freddy mentions that he owes Cecil fifteen shillings, offering what seems like an elegant solution: give the pound to Cecil, and the accounts will all work out properly. Cecil frames it neatly: “Give me the pound, and we shall avoid this deplorable gambling.” Miss Bartlett, who is poor at figures, becomes bewildered by the arithmetic and renders up the sovereign while the other young people suppress their gurgles of laughter. For a moment Cecil feels genuinely happy, playing at nonsense among his peers, though he glances at Lucy and sees petty anxieties that have marred her smiles. He reflects that in January he will rescue his Leonardo from this stupefying twaddle.