A Room with a View: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

The story resumes in England, after Lucy has returned from her Italian trip to her home, called Windy Corner. There, Lucy’s brother Freddy is examining a bone and reading an anatomy manual, while Lucy’s mother Mrs. Honeychurch is writing a letter in the drawing room. They are discussing Lucy and a man named Cecil Vyse, who is about to propose to Lucy for the third time. Mrs. Honeychurch is glad that Cecil is trying again, while Freddy says he feels uncomfortable with the situation, since Lucy has already tried to reject Cecil.

Mrs. Honeychurch is writing to Cecil’s mother—Mrs. Vyse, of the same family that Lucy visited in Rome—and comments on how she was surprised that Cecil had asked her permission to propose to Lucy, because she always thought of Cecil as unconventional. Freddy says that Cecil also asked his permission, which Mrs. Honeychurch finds odd. She peers out a window to spy on Cecil and Lucy, who are talking outside.

Freddy tells his mother that when Cecil asked his permission for the proposal, he also asked Freddy if he thought the marriage would be a good thing. Freddy answered honestly, saying no. This irritates Mrs. Honeychurch, who reminds Freddy of “all that has passed between them [Lucy and Cecil] in Rome,” and says she likes Cecil, because “he’s good, he’s clever, he’s rich, he’s well connected.” Freddy says that he doesn’t like Cecil, but can’t quite figure out why. He says it might have something to do with something Mr. Beebe said, about Cecil being “detached.”

Freddy tries to discern what it is about Cecil that he dislikes, as Mrs. Honeychurch looks 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 decide for themselves.” In the letter, Mrs. Honeychurch tells Mrs. Vyse that Lucy likes Cecil. As she is finishing her letter, Cecil enters the room. The narrator describes Cecil as “medieval” and “like a Gothic statue.”

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 Cecil suggests that she go into the garden with her mother and brother to tell them about the proposal. As they leave, Cecil thinks over his history with Lucy: he saw her when she came to Rome and thought she was “a typical tourist—shrill, crude, and gaunt with travel.” But gradually, he became interested in her and thought she “was like a woman of Leonardo da Vinci’s.”

In Rome, Cecil hinted to Lucy that they should marry, and she declined. He proposed again “among the flower-clad Alps,” and she again rejected him. But this time, she accepted his offer, and Cecil happily plans to write a letter to his mother. He thinks about Lucy’s country society around Windy Corner, and decides that “he ought to introduce her into more congenial circles as soon as possible.”

Mr. Beebe arrives and tells Cecil that he has come “for tea and for gossip.” He shares the news that a man named Sir Harry Otway has bought two nearby villas. Cecil is uninterested in such “local affairs.” Mr. Beebe asks what Cecil’s profession is, and Cecil says he has none. (Because he is so well-off, he doesn’t need one.) The two men continue to make small-talk and finally bond a bit over joking about the bad service provided by the servants at Windy Hill.

Mr. Beebe and Cecil talk about Lucy. Mr. Beebe says that he made a drawing in Florence, with Lucy represented by a kite and Charlotte holding the string. He says the symbolic string of the kite never broke, and Cecil says, “It has broken now.” He tells Mr. Beebe of his new engagement. Mr. Beebe apologizes for talking about Lucy “in this flippant, superficial way.” He says that he knew in Florence that Lucy would eventually “take some momentous step,” and now she has taken it.

Freddy and Mrs. Honeychurch enter, and both are excited about the engagement. The narrator quips that “an engagement is so potent a thing that sooner or later it reduces all who speak of it to this state of cheerful awe.” Everyone at Windy Corner cannot help but feel happy about the engagement, and they sit down for “a very pleasant tea-party.”