A Room with a View

Mr. Emerson Apologizes to Rev. Eager

Mr. Emerson, feeling contrite about having spoiled the visitors’ pleasure, hurries off to apologize to the Rev. Cuthbert Eager. Lucy, pretending to study a lunette, overhears the old man’s anxious voice and the clergyman’s curt, injured replies, while George treats the contretemps as a tragedy and explains that his father offends people precisely because his kindness is genuine rather than performative.

Lucy and George Discuss Art

Wandering through Santa Croce amid beggars, guides, and priests, Mr. Emerson and Lucy discuss Giotto, Ruskin, and the Della Robbia babies, while the old man anxiously watches his son and confides his concern that George is unhappy. Lucy sympathizes with the clergyman’s flock but also feels Mr. Emerson’s appeal, sensing that a kind action must be done tactfully—though George reacts to the word “tact” with disdain.

Mr. Emerson Asks Lucy to Help George

Mr. Emerson makes an extraordinary speech to Lucy, asking her not to fall in love with George but to help her understand him, urging her to let herself go and pull her muddled thoughts into the sunlight. Quoting poetry, he explains that George suffers because the things of the universe will not fit, and he pleads with Lucy to teach his son that beside the everlasting Why there is a transitory Yes of love, work, and rejoicing.

Lucy Reunites with Miss Bartlett

George approaches over the tombstones and announces that Miss Bartlett is in the nave, collapsing Lucy’s new perspective on life back into panic. After a brief, sharp exchange in which Lucy defensively insists she is thoroughly happy, she rejoins her cousin Charlotte, leaving the Emersons behind as Santa Croce is praised as a wonderful church.