A Room with a View

第二章

Chapter II of A Room with a View, titled “In Santa Croce with No Baedeker,” follows Lucy Honeychurch’s first morning in Florence. After waking in her bright, bare room overlooking the Arno, she is chaperoned by Miss Bartlett and the eccentric novelist Miss Lavish on an outing to Santa Croce. Along the way they become lost in the city’s eastern quarter, and Miss Lavish ultimately abandons Lucy—taking her Baedeker with her—to chase a “local-colour box.” Inside the cold, barn-like church, Lucy’s frustration gives way to Italy’s quiet charm until she rescues a fallen Italian child and encounters the Emersons, father and son, whose candid unconventionality both unsettles and intrigues her. The chapter closes as Lucy, freed from Baedeker and from Miss Lavish’s guidance, allows the younger Mr. Emerson to lead her toward the Giotto frescoes.

Morning in Florence

Lucy wakes in Florence to a bright, bare room with red tile floors, a painted ceiling of pink griffins and blue amorini, and windows opening onto the Arno, marble churches, and green hills. Outside, working men on the foreshore, an overloaded electric tram, marching undersized soldiers, and tumbling boys create a chaotic but vivid Italian scene. An old man selling button-hooks finally restores order, and the narrator warns that such trivialities can absorb a traveler’s valuable hours.

Florence Street Scenes

Miss Bartlett interrupts Lucy’s window-leaning to urge her to dress and come to breakfast. The clever lady already at the table prompts a familiar dance of conflicting suggestions: Miss Bartlett is tired and prefers to settle in, Lucy would rather go out but offers to stay, and Miss Bartlett insists on accompanying her everywhere. The clever lady—soon identified as Miss Lavish—breaks in to reassure them that English girls are safe in Italy, citing the example of Contessa Baroncelli’s daughters.