A Room with a View

Promontory Arrival, Art Search, and Group Split

The party arrives at an uncultivated, bushy promontory overlooking the Val d’Arno, which Mr. Eager and Miss Lavish believe may be the spot Renaissance painter Alessio Baldovinetti stood nearly 500 years prior to capture his famous view of the valley and distant Florence. Haze over the valley makes the art history search difficult, and the group’s clashing energies lead them to split into smaller factions: Lucy stays with Miss Bartlett and Miss Lavish, the Emersons hold a lengthy conversation with the carriage drivers, and the two clergymen are left to talk only to each other.

Lucy’s Lost Wanderings and Encounter with George Emerson

Frustrated by Miss Bartlett and Miss Lavish’s gossip about George Emerson’s work in the railway industry, Lucy leaves the pair to search for Mr. Beebe and Mr. Eager. She asks a carriage driver for directions, and he leads her through thick undergrowth toward the edge of the promontory. Halfway there, the ground gives way and Lucy falls onto a small, open terrace completely covered in blue violets. George Emerson, who was already standing on the terrace, sees her and kisses her before Miss Bartlett’s distant calls for Lucy break the silence.

第七章

Chapter VII brings the group back to Florence after the disastrous picnic. The chapter traces the evening’s events: Phaethon the cabman’s silent knowledge of the kiss, the stormy ride interrupted by a tram accident, Lucy’s tearful confession to Charlotte, the cousins’ decision to flee to Rome, and Charlotte’s guilt-stricken attempts at self-reproach as they pack. Throughout, Lucy vacillates between a desire for absolute truthfulness and a dawning realization that honesty may not serve her.