A Room with a View

The Ghosts of Italy Return

As the dinner conversation winds down, “the ghosts began to gather in the darkness.” Lucy thinks of too many ghosts—her mother’s touch on her cheek from the mountain, Mr. Harris, Miss Bartlett’s letter, Mr. Beebe’s memories of violets. The original ghost, the kiss on the mountain, “had surely been laid long ago” but had “begotten a spectral family” of memories that now haunt her. Miss Bartlett’s ghost returns “with appalling vividness,” and Lucy wonders how she will fight against these ghosts. The visible world fades away, and memories and emotions alone seem real—the past in Italy beginning to usurp even the places of her childhood at Windy Corner.

The Debate Over Inviting Charlotte

Mrs. Honeychurch suggests inviting Charlotte for a holiday while her plumbing is being repaired. Lucy protests violently that this is “impossible” given the crowded house—Freddy has a friend coming Tuesday, Cecil is staying, and Minnie Beebe is arriving due to a diphtheria scare. When Lucy refuses to share her room with Minnie, her mother suggests alternative sleeping arrangements. Cecil moans “Miss Bartlett, Miss Bartlett, Miss Bartlett” at the mere idea. Lucy hardens her heart and admits she doesn’t like Charlotte, though she acknowledges this is “horrid” of her. Mrs. Honeychurch makes an emotional appeal for kindness, noting that Lucy and Cecil have each other and beautiful woods, while “poor Charlotte has only the water turned off and plumbers.”

Cecil’s Contempt for the Honeychurches

Cecil crumbles his bread during the debate, his contempt for the family’s concerns evident. Freddy mentions that Cousin Charlotte was kind to him once, boiling an egg for his tea, but Cecil frowns at this recollection. The chapter culminates with Cecil’s barely veiled insolence as he asks to be excused from dessert, dismissing the family’s concerns about eggs, boilers, and hydrangeas as trivial. His final question—“May me and Lucy get down from our chairs? We don’t want no dessert”—reveals his contempt for the Honeychurches’ way of life. The narrative notes that Cecil thinks the family’s methods of resolving conflicts are beneath him, perhaps rightly, but they are not his own.