Roman Fever: Section 2 Summary & Analysis

For a long time, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade sit in silence on the terrace. The intimacy of this silence makes Mrs. Ansley uncomfortable, and when the bells chime at five o’clock, she reminds Mrs. Slade that the American Embassy is hosting Bridge games that evening. Mrs. Slade, lost in thought, says she will stay on the terrace rather than going to the Embassy. Mrs. Ansley insists that she does not want to leave the terrace either, and takes out her knitting. As her friend becomes engaged in activity, Mrs. Slade remains sitting motionless in her chair.

Mrs. Slade makes a long, contemplative comment about the ways in which each generation of women visiting Rome has a different experience of the city. Their grandmothers were preoccupied with anxieties about Roman Fever that was common in those days, and fear of the disease kept their mothers from going out at night. When they were young women, she says, there was no threat of Roman Fever, and they were willing to disobey their mothers by going out at night. In fact, they relished the danger inherent in doing so, and readily disobeyed their parents. Mrs. Ansley continues knitting as her friend speaks, barely acknowledging Mrs. Slade’s comments. Mrs. Slade notes silently that it is “like her” to focus on knitting rather than on the beautiful city before them.

It occurs to Mrs. Slade that Barbara must intend to win over one of the young aviators, who is a member of the Italian nobility. She realizes that Jenny cannot compete with Barbara for the young man’s affections. Turning to Mrs. Ansley, she voices her amazement at the fact that two “exemplary characters” — meaning Mrs. Ansley and Horace — could have produced a child as “dynamic” as Barbara. This comment causes Mrs. Ansley to set down her knitting and remark, without looking at her friend, that Mrs. Slade seems to “overrate” Barbara. Mrs. Slade insists that she envies her friend, and that she wishes Jenny had been “brilliant” like Barbara instead of being an “angel.” Mrs. Ansley remarks that Barbara is an “angel” as well, and resumes her knitting while Mrs. Slade makes another attempt to explain her comments about the two girls. Mrs. Slade wonders briefly whether Mrs. Ansley is as absorbed in memories as she is herself, but quickly dismisses the idea, thinking that her friend has nothing to trouble her and must simply be absorbed in her knitting.

Mrs. Slade tries to imagine the kind of life Mrs. Ansley will have if Barbara marries the Italian aviator: living in Rome among her grandchildren, surrounded by members of Roman high society. She berates herself for thinking such petty and unkind thoughts about her friend, and wonders whether she will ever stop envying Mrs. Ansley. Standing up, she looks at the Colosseum bathed in evening light, but she finds the beautiful sight stressful rather than calming.

Mrs. Slade asks Mrs. Ansley whether she is afraid of catching Roman Fever or pneumonia, recalling that Mrs. Ansley has always had a sensitive throat. The two women begin discussing Mrs. Ansley’s Great-Aunt Harriet, who—according to family lore—once sent her younger sister on an evening errand during a trip to Rome in hope that she would catch Roman Fever. The two sisters were in love with the same man, and Harriet hoped her sister would catch the illness and die— which, in fact, she did.

Mrs. Slade tells Mrs. Ansley that she was frightened by the story of Great-Aunt Harriet when she and Mrs. Ansley visited Rome as young women. Mrs. Slade suggests that she was “too happy” at that time—she was engaged to Delphin—and was easily frightened as a result. She goes on to say that, though Roman Fever was no longer a threat during that visit, she realized after hearing Harriet’s story that the cold air in the Forum and the Colosseum could still bring on a deadly illness. Mrs. Ansley expresses confusion at her friend’s comments and insists that she does not remember that time well, but Mrs. Slade goes on.

Mrs. Slade recalls how, on that long-ago visit to Rome, Mrs. Ansley had become very ill after staying out late one night. Mrs. Ansley says little in response, and her friend continues speaking about the illness and the late-night sightseeing that supposedly caused it. Soon, Mrs. Slade bursts out that she has “always known” why Mrs. Ansley went out late that night. She accuses Mrs. Ansley of going to the Colosseum in response to a letter from Delphin, in which he expressed his love for her and urged her to meet him there in secret. Mrs. Ansley stands up from her chair, and her knitting falls to the ground as Mrs. Slade begins to recite from the letter.

Mrs. Ansley says she burned the letter about which Mrs. Slade is speaking, and that she does not know how Mrs. Slade can know what the letter said. Sneering, Mrs. Slade reveals that it was she, not Delphin, who wrote and sent the letter. Mrs. Ansley responds with a shocked silence, covering her face with her hands. After a moment, Mrs. Slade asks whether she horrifies Mrs. Ansley. To this, Mrs. Ansley replies: “I wasn’t thinking of you. I was thinking—it was the only letter I ever had from him!”

Although she continues to taunt her friend, Mrs. Slade realizes that her own feeling of rage is fading. She feels suddenly guilty at the thought that she has caused Mrs. Ansley pain over something that happened so long ago. Eager to justify her actions, Mrs. Slade explains that she knew Mrs. Ansley had been in love with Delphin, and that she wanted Mrs. Ansley “out of the way”—sick and bedridden—so that she could not steal him away from her before they were married. Seeing Mrs. Ansley’s devastation and realizing that she must have cared very deeply for Delphin, Mrs. Slade is filled with a new wave of rage and jealousy. She reminds Mrs. Ansley that she married Horace only two months after the evening at the Colosseum, and says she has always believed that Mrs. Ansley’s marriage to Horace had been an attempt to “[get] ahead” of her and Delphin by marrying first. Mrs. Slade, citing this theory as evidence, claims that Mrs. Ansley never actually cared for Delphin. Mrs. Ansley concedes that it must have looked that way to Mrs. Slade.

Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade sit together in silence while, all around them, the waiters from the restaurant begin to prepare the terrace for dinner. They bring fresh flowers, trays, napkins, and flasks of wine to the tables. A woman appears, looking for the elastic band she uses to hold together her tattered Baedeker travel guide, which she claims to have lost while lunching on the terrace. The Seven Hills become dark.

Mrs. Slade tells Mrs. Ansley that writing the letter was intended as a cruel joke, and that she enjoyed the image of Mrs. Ansley making a fool of herself as she waited for Delphin at the Colosseum. To this, Mrs. Ansley replies that she did not wait, because Delphin met her at the Colosseum just as the letter had said he would.

Shocked, Mrs. Slade asks how Delphin could have known that Mrs. Ansley would be at the Colosseum, since he never saw the letter. Mrs. Ansley reveals that she sent Delphin a letter in response to the once she received, confirming that she would meet him as he had asked. When she arrived, he was waiting for her. Mrs. Slade is stunned, and says she had never expected that Mrs. Ansley might write back.

Mrs. Ansley remarks that the terrace is cold, and that they had better leave. She tells Mrs. Slade she is sorry for her. As Mrs. Slade gathers her things, she says she does not know why Mrs. Ansley should be sorry for her. After all, she says, though her scheme with the letter went wrong, she still had twenty-five years of marriage with Delphin, while Mrs. Ansley had nothing from him except “that one letter that he didn’t write.”

Mrs. Ansley takes a step toward the door of the terrace. Then, she turns back to face Mrs. Slade. “I had Barbara,” she tells her and then walks toward the stairway.