A Room with a View

Lucy Worries Cecil Disapproves of Her Close Acquaintances

Lucy reflects on Cecil’s evident dislike of Sir Harry Otway and Mr. Beebe and worries about who else might displease him. She thinks specifically of Freddy, who is neither clever nor subtle nor beautiful, and wonders what she would say if Cecil pronounced it wrong not to loathe him. She can only console herself that Cecil has known Freddy some time and that they have always got on pleasantly, except possibly during the last few days, which she hopes is an accident.

Cecil Chooses a Woodland Walk Over the Road

Lucy asks Cecil which way they should walk. Summer Street lies deep in the woods and a footpath diverges from the highroad at the spot where she has stopped. Cecil asks if there are two ways, and though Lucy notes that the road might be more sensible because they are dressed up, Cecil insists on going through the wood, with a subdued irritation Lucy has noticed all afternoon. He reproaches her for always suggesting the road and for never having been with him in the fields or the woods since their engagement. Startled by his queerness, Lucy agrees and leads the way into the whispering pines, expecting an explanation.

Conversation Linking Cecil to Rooms Rather Than Nature

Sure enough, Cecil explains before they have gone a dozen yards. He had imagined, perhaps wrongly, that Lucy feels more at home with him in a room rather than in the real country like this. Lucy protests bewilderedly, declaring she has never felt anything of the sort and insisting she is not a “poetess sort of person.” Cecil counters that he connects her with a view, a certain type of view, and asks why she should not connect him with a room. Lucy reflects and then agrees, laughing, that she does think of him as in a room, a room with no view. Cecil, to her surprise, is annoyed by this and says reproachfully that he would rather she connected him with the open air. Lucy repeats her bewilderment, “Oh, Cecil, whatever do you mean?” As no explanation comes, she shakes off the subject as too difficult for a girl.