A Room with a View

by

E. M. Forster

Lucy Honeychurch Character Analysis

Lucy begins the novel as a young, somewhat naïve British woman abroad in Italy. She is under the care of her older cousin Charlotte, but eager to break out on her own and lead a more independent life. When George kisses her outside of Florence, she herself is shocked, and follows Charlotte’s guidance in promising not to tell anyone about it. Back in England, she becomes engaged to Cecil, and gradually convinces herself that she loves him, denying her real feelings for George. This becomes more difficult, though, when the Emersons move into a villa near her home, and she has to see George again. George kisses her a second time at Windy Corner, and Lucy is furious with him. When she tells him to leave, he delivers an impassioned speech about how Cecil does not respect her or any woman as an equal, and not long after she does end her engagement. However, Lucy still denies her love for George—and plans to run away to Greece to escape her true feelings—until Mr. Emerson convinces her to be honest with herself. Over the course of the novel, Lucy becomes more independent and assertive, and disregards both her own family and social expectations and norms when she finally marries George and elopes with him to Italy.

Lucy Honeychurch Quotes in A Room with a View

The A Room with a View quotes below are all either spoken by Lucy Honeychurch or refer to Lucy Honeychurch. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Society, Manners, and Changing Social Norms Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

I think he would not take advantage of your acceptance, nor expect you to show gratitude. He has the merit—if it is one—of saying exactly what he means. He has rooms he does not value, and he thinks you would value them. He no more thought of putting you under an obligation than he thought of being polite. It is so difficult—at least, I find it difficult—to understand people who speak the truth.

Related Characters: Mr. Beebe (speaker), Lucy Honeychurch, Charlotte Bartlett, Mr. Emerson
Related Symbols: Indoors, Outdoors and Views
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

About old Mr. Emerson—I hardly know. No, he is not tactful; yet, have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet at the same time—beautiful?

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch (speaker), Mr. Emerson
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

Buon giorno! Take the word of an old woman, Miss Lucy: you will never repent of a little civility to your inferiors. That is the true democracy. Though I am a real Radical as well. There, now you're shocked.

Related Characters: Miss Lavish (speaker), Lucy Honeychurch
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:

Of course, it contained frescoes by Giotto, in the presence of whose tactile values she was capable of feeling what was proper. But who was to tell her which they were? She walked about disdainfully, unwilling to be enthusiastic over monuments of uncertain authorship or date. There was no one even to tell her which, of all the sepulchral slabs that paved the nave and transepts, was the one that was really beautiful, the one that had been most praised by Mr. Ruskin. Then the pernicious charm of Italy worked on her, and, instead of acquiring information, she began to be happy.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:

I think that you are repeating what you have heard older people say. You are pretending to be touchy; but you are not really. Stop being so tiresome, and tell me instead what part of the church you want to see. To take you to it will be a real pleasure.

Related Characters: Mr. Emerson (speaker), Lucy Honeychurch
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

It so happened that Lucy, who found daily life rather chaotic, entered a more solid world when she opened the piano. She was then no longer either deferential or patronizing; no longer either a rebel or a slave. The kingdom of music is not the kingdom of this world; it will accept those whom breeding and intellect and culture have alike rejected.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 28
Explanation and Analysis:

All his life he had loved to study maiden ladies; they were his specialty, and his profession had provided him with ample opportunities for the work. Girls like Lucy were charming to look at, but Mr. Beebe was, from rather profound reasons, somewhat chilly in his attitude towards the other sex, and preferred to be interested rather than enthralled.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch, Mr. Beebe
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:

"Mr. Beebe—old Mr. Emerson, is he nice or not nice? I do so want to know."

Mr. Beebe laughed and suggested that she should settle the question for herself.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch (speaker), Mr. Emerson, Mr. Beebe
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

This she might not attempt. It was unladylike. Why? Why were most big things unladylike? Charlotte had once explained to her why. It was not that ladies were inferior to men; it was that they were different. Their mission was to inspire others to achievement rather than to achieve themselves. Indirectly, by means of tact and a spotless name, a lady could accomplish much. But if she rushed into the fray herself she would be first censured, then despised, and finally ignored. Poems had been written to illustrate this point.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch, Charlotte Bartlett
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

She did not answer. From her feet the ground sloped sharply into view, and violets ran down in rivulets and streams and cataracts, irrigating the hillside with blue, eddying round the tree stems collecting into pools in the hollows, covering the grass with spots of azure foam. But never again were they in such profusion; this terrace was the well-head, the primal source whence beauty gushed out to water the earth.
Standing at its brink, like a swimmer who prepares, was the good man. But he was not the good man that she had expected, and he was alone.
George had turned at the sound of her arrival. For a moment he contemplated her, as one who had fallen out of heaven. He saw radiant joy in her face, he saw the flowers beat against her dress in blue waves. The bushes above them closed. He stepped quickly forward and kissed her.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch, George Emerson
Related Symbols: Indoors, Outdoors and Views
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 63
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

No, Lucy, he stands for all that is bad in country life. In London he would keep his place. He would belong to a brainless club, and his wife would give brainless dinner parties. But down here he acts the little god with his gentility, and his patronage, and his sham aesthetics, and every one—even your mother—is taken in.

Related Characters: Cecil Vyse (speaker), Lucy Honeychurch, Sir Harry Otway
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:

"I had got an idea—I dare say wrongly—that you feel more at home with me in a room."
"A room?" she echoed, hopelessly bewildered.
"Yes. Or, at the most, in a garden, or on a road. Never in the real country like this."
"Oh, Cecil, whatever do you mean? I have never felt anything of the sort. You talk as if I was a kind of poetess sort of person."
"I don't know that you aren't. I connect you with a view—a certain type of view. Why shouldn't you connect me with a room?"
She reflected a moment, and then said, laughing:
"Do you know that you're right? I do. I must be a poetess after all. When I think of you it's always as in a room. How funny!"
To her surprise, he seemed annoyed.
"A drawing-room, pray? With no view?"
"Yes, with no view, I fancy. Why not?"
"I'd rather," he said reproachfully, "that connected me with the open air."

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch (speaker), Cecil Vyse (speaker)
Related Symbols: Indoors, Outdoors and Views
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

It is obvious enough for the reader to conclude, "She loves young Emerson." A reader in Lucy's place would not find it obvious. Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice, and we welcome "nerves" or any other shibboleth that will cloak our personal desire. She loved Cecil; George made her nervous; will the reader explain to her that the phrases should have been reversed?

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch, George Emerson, Cecil Vyse
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:

I am no match for you in conversation, dearest. I blush when I think how I interfered at Florence, and you so well able to look after yourself, and so much cleverer in all ways than I am. You will never forgive me.

Related Characters: Charlotte Bartlett (speaker), Lucy Honeychurch
Page Number: 136
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

The scales fell from Lucy's eyes. How had she stood Cecil for a moment? He was absolutely intolerable, and the same evening she broke off her engagement.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch, Cecil Vyse
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 157
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

But I cannot see why you didn't tell your friends about Cecil and be done with it. There all the time we had to sit fencing, and almost telling lies, and be seen through, too, I dare say, which is most unpleasant.

Related Characters: Mrs. Honeychurch (speaker), Lucy Honeychurch, Cecil Vyse
Page Number: 179
Explanation and Analysis:

"I want more independence," said Lucy lamely; she knew that she wanted something, and independence is a useful cry; we can always say that we have not got it. She tried to remember her emotions in Florence: those had been sincere and passionate, and had suggested beauty rather than short skirts and latch-keys. But independence was certainly her cue.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch (speaker)
Related Symbols: Indoors, Outdoors and Views
Page Number: 181
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

Youth enwrapped them; the song of Phaethon announced passion requited, love attained. But they were conscious of a love more mysterious than this. The song died away; they heard the river, bearing down the snows of winter into the Mediterranean.

Related Characters: Lucy Honeychurch, George Emerson
Related Symbols: Indoors, Outdoors and Views
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
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Lucy Honeychurch Character Timeline in A Room with a View

The timeline below shows where the character Lucy Honeychurch appears in A Room with a View. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
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A young English woman named Lucy is vacationing in Italy with her significantly older cousin Charlotte. They are staying together at... (full context)
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Lucy and Charlotte talk back and forth about which of them will take the first room... (full context)
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Charlotte tells Lucy that they will find another place to stay, but just then a young clergyman named... (full context)
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Charlotte and Lucy leave dinner and talk with Mr. Beebe in another room. Charlotte asks about the Emersons,... (full context)
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...Beebe if she should apologize, but he says she doesn’t need to, and then leaves. Lucy tells Charlotte that she thinks Mr. Beebe is nice and sees “good in everyone.” She... (full context)
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Slightly defending Mr. Emerson’s kind offer, Lucy agrees that he is not tactful but asks, “yet, have you ever noticed that there... (full context)
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Lucy and Charlotte move into the Emersons’ rooms, and Charlotte explains to Lucy that she has... (full context)
Chapter 2
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The next morning, Lucy wakes up, admires her view of the Arno river, and looks at various Italian men... (full context)
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Lucy excitedly looks for information about Santa Croce in her Baedeker travel guidebook, and the woman,... (full context)
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Lucy tells Miss Lavish that her father has always been a Radical, as well, and assures... (full context)
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...Miss Lavish sees a familiar face and runs off to talk to an old man. Lucy waits for ten minutes before deciding to try to find Miss Lavish. She can’t find... (full context)
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...boy up. Mr. Emerson tries to talk to her, but she does not speak English. Lucy explains to Mr. Emerson what has happened to her, and George suggests that she join... (full context)
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...that the church is not big enough for two parties, and leads his congregation outside. Lucy recognizes the reverend as an Englishman named Mr. Eager. George tells Lucy that his father... (full context)
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Lucy suggests that Mr. Emerson could have been more tactful, and George balks at the idea... (full context)
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Mr. Emerson tells Lucy that he knows what is wrong with George. He says it is “the old trouble:... (full context)
Chapter 3
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The narrator describes how Lucy likes playing the piano, as music offers her a momentary escape from “the kingdom of... (full context)
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Upon meeting Lucy, Mr. Beebe had found her less interesting than her music playing would suggest. He made... (full context)
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Miss Alan tells Lucy about how Miss Lavish lost the entirety of a novel she was working on, and... (full context)
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...as “an unsuitable invitation.” Miss Lavish then went and spent time alone with Mr. Emerson. Lucy asks Mr. Beebe whether Mr. Emerson is “nice or not nice,” and he tells her... (full context)
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Lucy says that she thinks the Emersons are nice people, and Miss Alan tells her that... (full context)
Chapter 4
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Lucy is bored with the conversation she just had with Miss Alan and Mr. Beebe. She... (full context)
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The narrator reflects that while Lucy is impatient with the restrictions put on her because of her gender, she doesn’t have... (full context)
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Just then, two Italian men near Lucy get into a fight. One of them is stabbed and, turning toward her, bleeds profusely.... (full context)
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Lucy suddenly thinks of her photographs, which she dropped when she fainted. George goes to pick... (full context)
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Suddenly, George throws Lucy’s photographs into the river. Lucy is shocked, but George explains that they were covered in... (full context)
Chapter 5
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Upon returning to the Pension, Lucy is surprised when Charlotte is not troubled by Lucy’s adventure in the piazza. The next... (full context)
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...in touch with the real Florence, beyond what mere tourists see. The narrator says that Lucy would have been equally pleased only a few days earlier, but now had different priorities.... (full context)
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...this very piazza the day before, “the most sordid of tragedies,” occurred. Charlotte says that Lucy witnessed it, and claims responsibility for not chaperoning Lucy at the time. Mr. Eager asks... (full context)
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An Italian vendor tries to sell Mr. Eager some photographs, but he ignores him. Lucy, Charlotte, and Mr. Eager go shopping and buy “many hideous presents and mementoes.” By the... (full context)
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...finally says that Mr. Emerson murdered his wife (though he supplies no proof). He asks Lucy if the Emersons had said bad things about him when they were with her in... (full context)
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...and worries about who will sit with whom, since Mr. Eager dislikes Miss Lavish. Meanwhile, Lucy is lost among the “questions rioting in her brain,” after experiencing such strange things in... (full context)
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Charlotte and Lucy go to the bureau and receive letters. Lucy’s mother has written to tell her that... (full context)
Chapter 6
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In the afternoon, Lucy and Charlotte go for the ride with Mr. Eager. A young Italian man drives their... (full context)
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Lucy thinks about George Emerson, who she thinks is eager to “continue their intimacy.” She is... (full context)
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Mr. Eager asks if Lucy is in Florence as a student of art, and she tells him that she is... (full context)
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...Mr. Eager speaks to the two young Italians in Italian, and they both appeal to Lucy. Lucy is confused as to why they should seek her support. Finally, the young woman... (full context)
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...go off together, the Emersons return to the carriage to talk to their driver, and Lucy, Charlotte, and Miss Lavish form a third group. (full context)
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...laughs and says that Mr. Emerson looks like a porter. Miss Lavish and Charlotte encourage Lucy to go off and join Mr. Eager’s group, but Lucy doesn’t want to. They sit... (full context)
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The driver misunderstands Lucy and directs her over to where George is. Lucy walks through a wooded area and... (full context)
Chapter 7
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...the party rides back into Florence, and two close lightning strikes cause Miss Lavish and Lucy to scream. (full context)
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Emotional, Lucy apologizes to Charlotte and says that Charlotte warned her to be careful, but she simply... (full context)
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Charlotte consoles Lucy and tells her that everything is okay. The storm calms down as the carriage enters... (full context)
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Lucy talks with Charlotte in her room, and Charlotte asks her “what is to be done?”... (full context)
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Charlotte is reluctant to agree to Lucy’s plan, since Lucy is “so young and inexperienced,” that she doesn’t “realize what men can... (full context)
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As Charlotte and Lucy start to pack their things, Lucy feels inexplicably compelled to embrace Charlotte. Charlotte returns the... (full context)
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Lucy insists that Charlotte is not to blame for anything, and promises that she will not... (full context)
Chapter 8
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The story resumes in England, after Lucy has returned from her Italian trip to her home, called Windy Corner. There, Lucy’s brother... (full context)
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...over her letter, in which she tells Mrs. Vyse that she would be pleased for Lucy and Cecil to marry. But, she says to Freddy, “in these days young people must... (full context)
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Cecil informs Mrs. Honeychurch (first in Italian, then in English) that Lucy has accepted his marriage proposal, and both she and Freddy congratulate him. Lucy enters and... (full context)
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In Rome, Cecil hinted to Lucy that they should marry, and she declined. He proposed again “among the flower-clad Alps,” and... (full context)
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Mr. Beebe and Cecil talk about Lucy. Mr. Beebe says that he made a drawing in Florence, with Lucy represented by a... (full context)
Chapter 9
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A few days after the engagement, Mrs. Honeychurch takes Lucy and Cecil to a garden party, to show off the “presentable man” her daughter is... (full context)
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Cecil tells Lucy that he thinks of an engagement as a private matter, and hates how everyone was... (full context)
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Cecil criticizes Mr. Beebe to Lucy, who then says that she dislikes a different clergyman, Mr. Eager. She says that Mr.... (full context)
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Realizing that Cecil is playing with Sir Harry, Lucy suggests that he rent the place to some gentlewomen spinsters, and says that she knows... (full context)
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After they leave Sir Harry behind, Cecil tells Lucy that he dislikes him. He says that Sir Harry “stands for all that is bad... (full context)
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Lucy and Cecil walk through a wooded area, and Cecil says that he thinks Lucy only... (full context)
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Cecil tells Lucy that he wants to ask her something he has never asked her before, and finally... (full context)
Chapter 10
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The narrator describes “the society out of which Cecil proposed to rescue Lucy.” Lucy’s father had been “a prosperous local solicitor,” who built Windy Corner and then moved... (full context)
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For Lucy at Windy Corner, life “was a circle of rich, pleasant people, with identical interests and... (full context)
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One day, outside Windy Corner, Lucy is playing a made-up game with some tennis balls with Freddy and Mr. Beebe’s niece... (full context)
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Lucy tries to ascertain if this is the same Emerson family from Florence, and Mrs. Honeychurch... (full context)
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Lucy says that these Emersons are probably not the same ones as were in Florence, and... (full context)
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Lucy goes inside to see Cecil, and chides him for ruining her plan about the Miss... (full context)
Chapter 11
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...Emersons to move into Sir Harry’s villa are successful. The Alans are offended and write Lucy “a dignified letter.” Not long after, Sir Harry dies. Lucy gradually settles into the idea... (full context)
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Lucy receives a letter from Charlotte. Since the two parted after their trip to Italy, “a... (full context)
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Lucy is annoyed by Charlotte’s letter, and writes a reply in which she says that she... (full context)
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In London, Lucy attends a dinner party “consisting entirely of the grandchildren of famous people.” She is surprised... (full context)
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Mrs. Vyse tells Cecil, “Make Lucy one of us,” and enthusiastically says that Lucy is “purging off the Honeychurch taint,” and... (full context)
Chapter 12
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...for them, and examine the Emersons’ things, including many books. Mr. Beebe asks Freddy how Lucy enjoyed her stay in London, and Freddy says that Lucy is closer than ever to... (full context)
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Freddy tells Mr. Beebe that Cecil “is teaching Lucy Italian,” and that he is worried Lucy will become smarter than he is, as “she... (full context)
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On the way, Mr. Beebe comments on the coincidence of the Emersons meeting Lucy in Florence and then ending up so near to Windy Corner. George says that it... (full context)
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...Mr. Beebe alerts George and Freddy that people are coming by. Mrs. Honeychurch, Cecil, and Lucy happen to be walking through the woods. They see the three men, who then run... (full context)
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...clothes on, George, “barefoot, bare-chested, radiant and personable against the shadowy woods,” says hello to Lucy, and Mrs. Honeychurch tells her to bow in return. She bows awkwardly. That night, the... (full context)
Chapter 13
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At the home of a family friend, Mrs. Butterworth, Lucy thinks about her awkward bow earlier, and how she wasn’t prepared to encounter George outside... (full context)
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Lucy tries to defend Cecil’s haughtiness, but can’t find the right words. She feels that “two... (full context)
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Lucy and Mrs. Honeychurch talk about the letter Lucy received from Charlotte. Mrs. Honeychurch asks about... (full context)
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Lucy says that Charlotte mentioned Miss Lavish, a novelist, knowing that this will cause Mrs. Honeychurch... (full context)
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Lucy tries to think of an excuse not to invite Charlotte, saying there is no room... (full context)
Chapter 14
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To Lucy’s distress, Charlotte accepts the invitation to Windy Corner, and George Emerson accepts Freddy’s invitation for... (full context)
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After the encounter near the Sacred Lake, Lucy had run into George again along with Mr. Beebe at the rectory. She feels that... (full context)
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...and has to pay for a cab. She offers to pay for the cab, but Lucy and Freddy try to tell her not to, as she is a guest. She insists,... (full context)
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Lucy tells Charlotte that she has promised not to tell anyone about the kiss with George,... (full context)
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Fed up, Lucy says Charlotte was the one who told her to keep quiet about the kiss, and... (full context)
Chapter 15
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The next Sunday, a very sunny day, Lucy, Mrs. Honeychurch, Charlotte, and Minnie Beebe are all preparing to go to church. George, Freddy,... (full context)
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...up in favor of church, and insists that Minnie come. After church, Mrs. Honeychurch and Lucy stop by the Emersons’ home. Mr. Emerson meets Mrs. Honeychurch and tells her that he... (full context)
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After lunch, Lucy plays the piano. Cecil requests a particular song, but she stops playing instead. Then, George... (full context)
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After tennis, Cecil reads aloud to George and Lucy from the novel he is reading, which he finds comically bad. The novel is set... (full context)
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Lucy asks George what he thinks of the view from Windy Corner. George says that all... (full context)
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...up to her, embraces her, and kisses her. Realizing what this scene was modeled on, Lucy is shaken, and suggests that everyone go inside for tea. Cecil, George, and Lucy walk... (full context)
Chapter 16
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Lucy goes to her room, determined to stifle “love felt and returned, love which our bodies... (full context)
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Upset, Lucy now realizes why Charlotte encouraged her to tell Cecil about the kiss earlier and warned... (full context)
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Lucy and Charlotte go down to the dining room, where George is. Lucy tells George that... (full context)
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...treat women well. For example, when they encountered George near the Sacred Lake, George tells Lucy that Cecil was “teaching you and your mother to be shocked, when it was for... (full context)
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Lucy retorts that George is criticizing Cecil for telling her what to think, when he is... (full context)
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Freddy enters and tells Lucy there is time for another set of tennis. She says that George has had to... (full context)
Chapter 17
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When Lucy ends the engagement, Cecil is stunned. Lucy says they are simply too different, and Cecil... (full context)
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Cecil is shocked and confused. For the first time in their relationship, he sees Lucy as “a living woman, with mysteries and forces of her own,” rather than as a... (full context)
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Lucy answers that she doesn’t want to be protected and wants to “choose for myself what... (full context)
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Lucy thinks that Cecil is suggesting that she is leaving him for someone else, which upsets... (full context)
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...engagement couldn’t have worked, because he is “bound up in the old vicious notions,” while Lucy is “splendid and new.” Cecil and Lucy say goodnight politely. Lucy resolves never to marry... (full context)
Chapter 18
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...comes to Windy Corner “with a piece of gossip,” unaware of what has happened with Lucy and Cecil. Mr. Beebe’s gossip is that the Alans are planning a trip to Greece,... (full context)
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Mr. Beebe goes into the house and sees Lucy playing Mozart on the piano. He decides to let her be, and goes to find... (full context)
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Mr. Beebe talks with Charlotte, who is worried about gossip spreading regarding Lucy and Cecil. She says that Freddy shouldn’t even have told him about the matter, and... (full context)
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Mr. Beebe doesn’t “quite understand the situation,” but nonetheless feels compelled to help Lucy, and feels “spurred . . . into knight-errantry,” to help “place her out of danger.”... (full context)
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Mrs. Honeychurch goes to Lucy and tells her that she will allow her to go to Greece. Lucy is glad,... (full context)
Chapter 19
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Mrs. Honeychurch and Lucy go to visit the Alans in London, in preparation for the Greece trip. The Alans... (full context)
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Mrs. Honeychurch is sad that Lucy is leaving Freddy and her for the Alans, and comments that Lucy must be tired... (full context)
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Lucy and her mother talk little on the way back home, and they head to pick... (full context)
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At the church, Charlotte wants to stay for a service, so Lucy waits in Mr. Beebe’s study while Charlotte and Mrs. Honeychurch go into the church. There,... (full context)
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...guilty that she became severely depressed, and eventually sick, so much so that she died. Lucy realizes that this was what Mr. Eager had meant by saying that Mr. Emerson had... (full context)
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Lucy feels bad and tells Mr. Emerson that he doesn’t have to leave his home, since... (full context)
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Lucy tries to explain to Mr. Emerson that she left Cecil for her own reasons, but... (full context)
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Lucy still thinks that she cannot marry George, and she stammers, “I have misled you—I have... (full context)
Chapter 20
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...going to Constantinople. The novel turns to Florence, and the Pension Bertolini, where George and Lucy are in the very room that Lucy stayed in so long ago. They are happy... (full context)
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The narrator notes that while George is absolutely happy, Lucy’s happiness is not complete, as her family has not forgiven her for eloping with George.... (full context)
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Lucy says that the room reminds her of Charlotte, and she shudders at the thought of... (full context)
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George, though, thinks that Charlotte planned the event intentionally, so that Lucy would run into Mr. Emerson. He wonders if Charlotte had actually always hoped that Lucy... (full context)