A Room with a View

Minnie Beebe’s Objections

Minnie Beebe has watched the transaction narrowly, and her young mind cannot follow the logic: “I don’t see that! I don’t see why Mr. Vyse is to have the quid.” The others explain solemnly that fifteen shillings plus five shillings equals one pound, but Minnie remains unconvinced. “But I don’t see—” They attempt to stifle her objections with cake. She refuses, still protesting: “No, thank you. I’m done. I don’t see why—Freddy, don’t poke me. Miss Honeychurch, your brother’s hurting me. Ow! What about Mr. Floyd’s ten shillings? Ow! No, I don’t see and I never shall see why Miss What’s-her-name shouldn’t pay that bob for the driver.” Miss Bartlett, blushing, admits she had forgotten the driver entirely. Lucy rises with decision to fetch change, and requests that Cecil surrender the sovereign so they can start the entire process properly. Miss Bartlett follows her across the lawn, protesting her nuisance status, while inside the house Minnie’s protests continue and the other young men continue their games.

Lucy and Charlotte’s Private Chat

When Lucy and Miss Bartlett are out of earshot on the lawn, the older woman’s manner shifts abruptly from wailing to briskness. She asks directly: “Have you told him about him yet?” Lucy understands immediately what her cousin means by “him”—George Emerson and his behavior in Florence. She replies that she has not told Cecil or anyone, and requests change for the sovereign. Later, back in the drawing-room where Miss Bartlett gazes at the framed photograph of St. John ascending, she returns to the subject with urgency: “How dreadful! How more than dreadful, if Mr. Vyse should come to hear of it from some other source.” Lucy dismisses this concern, arguing that no Florentine cab-driver could ever reach Cecil with such information. Miss Bartlett suggests other possibilities: “Or perhaps old Mr. Emerson knows. In fact, he is certain to know.” Lucy remains unconcerned, insisting that even if the news spreads, she trusts Cecil to laugh at it. When pressed whether he would contradict it, she reaffirms that he would laugh at it—but she knows in her heart that she cannot truly trust him, for he desires her untouched.