Daisy Miller: Part 2: Rome Summary & Analysis

Winterbourne arrives in Rome in the end of January, a few weeks after his aunt. She has already written to tell him that the Millers are there, and the young lady has taken up with “third-rate” Italians. People are beginning to talk about her.

Winterbourne asks for more specifics, and Mrs. Costello says that Daisy wanders around alone with the Italians, whom she takes as guests to people’s houses—in particular a gentleman with a remarkable moustache. Mrs. Costello says the family is dreadful, while Winterbourne, after musing a bit, says they are just ignorant and innocent, not bad. They are vulgar, Mrs. Costello corrects him.

Winterbourne is a little annoyed to hear about all the foreign men flitting around Daisy, interrupting his image of her alone at a Roman window, awaiting his arrival. So he first goes to call on a friend, an American lady who used to spend winters in Geneva. After ten minutes, however, the lady’s servant announces the arrival of Mrs. Miller, with Randolph and Daisy with her. Upon entering, Randolph declares that he knows Winterbourne. Winterbourne greets the boy and begins to talk to him. Only then does Daisy, recognizing Winterbourne’s voice, turn and marvel that he is there. She didn’t believe he would come, she says, and he should have come to see her. He protests that he arrived yesterday, and when Daisy refuses to believe that, Winterbourne smiles in protest at her mother, who evades his glance and sits down with her son. Randolph says that their home is bigger than this one, and she stirs, rebuking him.

Winterbourne asks if Mrs. Miller has been well. Randolph exclaims that she has dyspepsia, and he and his father do as well. Mrs. Miller seems relieved rather than embarrassed by this. She begins to complain of the climate in Europe, and of the lack of a good doctor like her Dr. Davis in Schenectady. As Daisy continues to chat with the hostess, Mrs. Miller tells Winterbourne that she has been disappointed by Rome, which she expected to be otherwise than how it is. Winterbourne says it will grow on them, and Randolph pipes in, saying he hates it more every day. Mrs. Miller tells Winterbourne that Zurich, for instance, she found delightful.

Mrs. Miller says that Daisy has loved Rome and is in fact carried away because of the “splendid” society. Daisy knows many gentlemen, she says, which always makes things more pleasant for a young lady.

Daisy turns and declares that she’s been telling Mrs. Walker, the hostess, how “mean” Winterbourne has been. Winterbourne is a little annoyed that Daisy hasn’t appreciated that he went directly to Rome, stopping nowhere along the way, precisely because he was impatient to see her. He recalls a friend who once told him that pretty American women are both very exacting and entirely unlikely to feel indebted to someone. Daisy cries that Winterbourne didn’t stay at Vevay when she asked, and Winterbourne exclaims that he’s come all the way to Rome just to hear her reproaches. Daisy turns to Mrs. Walker, marveling at Winterbourne, but Mrs. Walker seems to be on Winterbourne’s side.

Daisy then asks Mrs. Walker’s permission to bring a friend to her upcoming party. Mrs. Walker, turning to Mrs. Miller, says she’d be delighted to meet their friend, but Mrs. Miller shyly says she doesn’t know this friend. Daisy says it is an “intimate” friend, Mr. Giovanelli. Mrs. Walker pauses, glances at Mrs. Miller, and then says she’d be glad to see him. Daisy serenely continues talking, praising him as handsome and clever and saying he’d like to meet Americans.

Daisy tells her mother to leave without her, as she’s going to walk. Randolph says she’s meeting Mr. Giovanelli. It’s the end of the afternoon, when many people are out, and Mrs. Walker doesn’t think it’s safe. Mrs. Miller agrees, saying Daisy will get the fever. Daisy smiles and kisses Mrs. Walker good-bye, saying she’s not going alone, but with a friend. Mrs. Walker asks if it’s Mr. Giovanelli. Daisy glances at Winterbourne, but without hesitating, smiles and says yes. Mrs. Walker pleads with her not to go to meet an Italian at this hour. Daisy says that she doesn’t want to be improper, so she’ll ask Winterbourne to accompany her. He agrees, and they go downstairs.

Daisy and Winterbourne go outside and move slowly through the packed streets. Winterbourne enjoys seeing many passersby ogle at Daisy, but he wonders how she could have thought to make this walk alone.

Daisy rebukes Winterbourne for not coming to see her earlier, but then turns to other topics. She says she’ll stay in Rome all winter if the fever doesn’t kill them. She was afraid Rome would be stuffy and boring, but now she’s met many charming people and enjoys the “select” society with many foreigners.

They pass the Pincian Gardens gate, and Winterbourne says he won’t help Daisy find Mr. Giovanelli. She laughs, then sees the Italian leaning against a tree. He is handsome, and wears a cocked hat and a nosegay (small bunch of flowers) in the buttonhole of his shirt. Winterbourne says he won’t leave her alone with him, but Daisy only looks at Winterbourne, seeming unembarrassed as she rebukes his arrogant tone. Daisy says she’s never let any gentleman interfere with her affairs or tell her what to do. Winterbourne thinks she should listen to the right gentleman. As the Italian approaches, Winterbourne tells Daisy that this is not the right gentleman.

Daisy introduces the two men and they walk, each on one side of her. Mr. Giovanelli is polite, clever, and sophisticated, but speaks with little sense. Winterbourne thinks that the man is just an imitation of a gentleman, and he feels indignant that Daisy can’t tell a real one apart from a fake one. Still, he admits that Giovanelli is agreeable and adept at pretending.

Again Winterbourne wonders if a “nice girl” would really meet up with a foreigner to walk about alone. Daisy is not quite delicate, but neither can he bring himself to feel that she is just a flirt, an occasion for a brief passion. Still, Daisy doesn’t seem to want to get rid of Winterbourne: she once again seems both bold and innocent, he thinks.

After fifteen minutes, Mrs. Walker pulls up in a carriage, her face flushed, and beckons to Winterbourne. She cries that 50 people have noticed Daisy, and she must stop. Winterbourne asks her not to make a fuss about it, since Daisy is simply innocent, but Mrs. Walker calls her crazy, with an “imbecile” mother. She’s come to drive Daisy around in the carriage for a while, so that people might see she isn’t completely wild.

Winterbourne goes to fetch Daisy, who seems delighted to present Mr. Giovanelli to Mrs. Walker. Mrs. Walker asks her to get in the carriage, and Daisy replies brightly that she would be charmed to, but is quite happy where she is. This isn’t the custom here, Mrs. Walker says, and Daisy exclaims that it should be. When Mrs. Walker suggests she walk with her mother, Daisy says a little more sharply that she is old enough, and Mrs. Walker says she’s old enough to be talked about. Daisy continues to smile and queries what Mrs. Walker means; the older woman only tells her to get in. Winterbourne starts to feel awkward, as Daisy says she doesn’t want to know what Mrs. Walker means by this.

Daisy begins to flush, and looks quite pretty to Winterbourne. She asks him if her reputation requires that she get in the carriage. Winterbourne flushes himself and, after pausing, decides it is most gentlemanly to tell the truth, so he says she should get in. Daisy laughs loudly and cries that she will just have to be improper, and then she promptly turns away to walk with Mr. Giovanelli.

Mrs. Walker, her eyes tearing up, tells Winterbourne to get in: when he says he must follow Daisy, she says if he does she’ll never speak to him again. Winterbourne catches up with Daisy just to tell her he’s leaving. She hardly looks at him as he says goodbye. Mr. Giovanelli tips his hat extravagantly.

Winterbourne tells Mrs. Walker, back in the carriage, that her earnestness has backfired: Daisy means no harm. Mrs. Walker thinks she’s gone too far, flirting with Italians, dancing with the same men all evening, and receiving visitors late at night. Winterbourne, laughing, says Daisy’s brother stays up even later, but Mrs. Walker isn’t amused. She says the servants all exchange smiles when a gentleman comes to ask for Daisy. Winterbourne grows angry at this, saying Daisy’s only fault is her lack of cultivation.

When Mrs. Walker marvels at how Daisy should have made a fuss about Winterbourne leaving Vevay, when they’d only known each other for a few days, Winterbourne pauses and then says that she and he himself have lived too long in Geneva.

Mrs. Walker asks Winterbourne to stop associating with Miss Miller, but he says he likes her very much and won’t. Mrs. Walker warns that he’ll contribute to her scandal, but then she says she’s said her piece, so she drops him off by the Villa Borghese at the edge of the Pincian Garden. In the distance Daisy and Mr. Giovanelli are seated on a bench. Winterbourne watches them wander toward the wall, where Giovanelli perches himself. Winterbourne pauses, then walks away towards Mrs. Costello’s.

The next two days, Winterbourne tries to call at Daisy’s hotel, but she’s not home either time. On the third day is Mrs. Walker’s party, where she has gathered several specimens of European society, whom she likes to trot out at such events.

When Winterbourne arrives, he sees Mrs. Miller, though not Daisy. Mrs. Miller tells Winterbourne and Mrs. Walker that she feels frightened to have come alone. Daisy is dressed, she says, but started playing at the piano with the Italian, and they were too enraptured to leave. Mrs. Walker is deeply offended, and tells Winterbourne to the side that Daisy is having her revenge for the other day. Mrs. Walker says she won’t speak to Daisy when she comes.

Daisy doesn’t arrive until eleven o’clock, looking lovely, smiling and chattering next to Mr. Giovanelli. She goes straight to Mrs. Walker and introduces her to the Italian, saying his beautiful singing made them late. Mrs. Walker is short with Mr. Giovanelli, who continues to act like a handsome Italian, singing and curling his mustache, throughout the evening.

Daisy and Winterbourne begin to talk. She says she was shocked that Mrs. Walker wanted her to abandon Mr. Giovanelli and join her in the carriage the other day, scoffing at the idea that this would have been “proper,” rather than merely unkind, as he had invited her long before to walk in the gardens. Winterbourne says Giovanelli would never have asked an Italian lady to walk around the streets with him. Daisy is grateful she’s not from here, and doesn’t see why she should change her habits for them.

Winterbourne warns her that her habits are those of a flirt, and, staring and smiling at him, she cries that she’s certainly a flirt, as all nice girls are. Winterbourne agrees that she is nice, but says he’d like her only to flirt with himself. Daisy thanks him but says he is much too stiff to flirt with. She laughs at his discomfort.

Winterbourne continues, trying to convince Daisy that she should follow the custom of a certain place, rather than flirt in the American custom, which people may misinterpret. Daisy brightly says they’re not flirting anyway: she and Mr. Giovanelli are intimate friends. Winterbourne casually remarks that it’s different if they’re in love, and he’s surprised to see that this comment, after such frank chat, makes Daisy rise and blush. She says that Mr. Giovanelli never says such disagreeable things to her.

Daisy turns to the Italian, who asks if she’d like tea—which she says Winterbourne has never thought to offer her. Daisy remains with Mr. Giovanelli in the other room for the rest of the party. When Daisy prepares to bid Mrs. Walker goodbye, the hostess turns her back on Daisy. Winterbourne watches from the door as Daisy turns pale and glances at Mrs. Miller, who remains oblivious. Winterbourne realizes that Daisy is shocked and confused, and he is touched. After the Millers leave, Winterbourne tells Mrs. Walker that she was cruel, but she only declares she’ll never invite Daisy again.

Winterbourne continues to visit the Millers’ hotel, where they are often absent, though when they are there Giovanelli always is too. Much of the time it is only he and Daisy in the drawing room. Winterbourne is surprised that Daisy never seems annoyed when Winterbourne intrudes on their meetings. He thinks that if she really does love Giovanelli, she should be more upset when their privacy is interrupted. But he certainly appreciates her innocent indifference and good humor, and her seeming inability to be jealous. Winterbourne has often felt something approaching fear of women he had been interested in before, and he doesn’t feel that way at all with Daisy.

Still, Winterbourne has to admit that Daisy seems to find Giovanelli fascinating: she is always asking him questions and ordering him around. One day Winterbourne is at St. Peter’s with Mrs. Costello and sees the couple together. Mrs. Costello remarks that Winterbourne has been quiet recently, and must be wrapped up in thinking about Miss Miller’s affair with the Italian. Winterbourne corrects her, saying it’s not an “intrigue” since it’s so out in the open.

Mrs. Costello, watching the couple, says she easily understands the appeal: Daisy must think him a fine gentleman, finer even than the courier, who probably introduced them. Winterbourne says he doesn’t think they’ll marry, and his aunt replies that Daisy certainly lives day-to-day, thinking of nothing. Mrs. Costello calls this perfectly vulgar.

Winterbourne says he’s asked around about Giovanelli, who is apparently respectable, though he doesn’t move in the finest circles. Daisy, he says, probably thinks him a gentleman, just as he finds her pretty, interesting, and splendid. Giovanelli must know that there is an elusive Mr. Miller who pays for all Daisy’s opulence, and Giovanelli doesn’t have any title and can’t hope to marry her. But neither does Daisy, he continues, have any idea of what it would mean to “catch” a real count or marchese.

At St. Peter’s, other friends of Mrs. Costello gather around them and discuss how Daisy has really gone “too far.” Winterbourne is upset at this talk, finding it painful to hear her innocence described as vulgar disorder, but he has to concede that she’s gone too far.

One day Winterbourne meets a friend in the Corso (a large boulevard) who has just emerged from the Doria Palace, where he saw a Velazquez portrait of Innocent X. The friend says he also saw “another kind of portrait”—the pretty American girl whom the friend knows Winterbourne to be acquainted with. She was with a little Italian, he says: he thought the lady was of better society than that.

Winterbourne says that she is. He quickly gets into a cab to find Mrs. Miller, who is at home and says that Daisy is off with Mr. Giovanelli, as usual. Daisy claims she isn’t engaged, says Mrs. Miller, but she feels that the couple might as well be. She does hope Giovanelli tells her if it’s the case, so she can write to Mr. Miller. Winterbourne is so amazed and confused at Mrs. Miller’s lack of parental concern that he gives up his idea to warn her about Daisy’s behavior.

After this Winterbourne never finds Daisy at home, nor at the houses of his friends, who have stopped inviting her, and who have attempted to reassure their European friends that Daisy is not representative of young American ladies at all.

It annoys Winterbourne to think that Daisy might not even notice or care about this coldness—she is probably too “light,” uncultivated, and thoughtless to be upset. However, he also wonders whether she might not just be defiant about other people’s reactions to her behavior. He is annoyed with himself, too, for his uncertainty regarding her actions, and the extent to which her peculiarities stem from her nationality or her personality. Winterbourne realizes that, either way, Daisy has passed him by.

A few days later Winterbourne finds Daisy at the Palace of the Caesar on a fine spring day, strolling amid the mossy marble ruins. Giovanelli is at her side. Daisy calls that Winterbourne must be lonely, always walking alone. He says he’s not as lucky as Daisy’s companion. Giovanelli has always been distinguished and polite with Winterbourne, hardly acting like a jealous lover, and Winterbourne thinks he might easily have an understanding with Giovanelli, sharing their mutual amazement at Daisy’s extraordinary nature.

Daisy says Winterbourne thinks she’s with Giovanelli too much. Everyone thinks so, Winterbourne replies. Daisy declares that everyone is “pretending” to be shocked, while really they don’t care what she does. They do, and they will grow disagreeable about it, Winterbourne says. Daisy asks him just how, and Winterbourne says she’ll see by calling on their acquaintances and seeing how they treat her coldly. Daisy starts to flush, and refers to Mrs. Walker’s behavior the other night.

Daisy looks at Giovanelli, then back at Winterbourne, and says Winterbourne shouldn’t let people be so unkind. He protests that he has said something. Then he says Mrs. Miller believes Daisy is engaged. Daisy agrees that her mother does think this. Winterbourne begins to laugh, but stops when Daisy says she is engaged. She declares that Winterbourne doesn’t believe it. He says he does believe it, and then Daisy says that, in that case, she’s not engaged.

Winterbourne leaves the couple. A week later he eats dinner at a villa on the Caelian Hill, and decides to walk past the monuments of the Forum in the moonlight, with the moon slightly concealed by the clouds. It is eleven o’clock when Winterbourne reaches the Coliseum. He loves picturesque scenes and decides to peek inside. He walks to one of the arches, where he sees an open carriage. Then he passes inside, where half of the circle of the Coliseum is lit in dusk and the other is totally dark.

Winterbourne begins to recite some lines of poetry, but then remembers that doctors caution against spending time around these ancient monuments at night, since it can lead to the fever. Winterbourne hastens towards the middle, planning to leave quickly afterward. Then he sees two people poised on the low steps, talking: he recognizes Daisy’s voice.

Winterbourne is horrified by this discovery, but also a little relieved. Daisy’s behavior is finally easy to read for him—she is simply not a respectable lady. Winterbourne is angry that he’s spent so much time confused about how to think of her. He quickly retreats, but Daisy sees him and calls out his name. She rises and Giovanelli lifts his hat. Winterbourne’s thoughts turn to how dangerous it is for Daisy to be spending the evening lounging around in a place known to cause malaria.

Daisy says she’s been here all evening, and nothing can be so pretty. Winterbourne tells her that people catch Roman fever from such beauty. He rebukes Giovanelli for leading her here, and Giovanelli says he’s not afraid for himself, and the lady has never been prudent. Daisy declares that she couldn’t have left Rome without seeing the Coliseum by moonlight.

Winterbourne counsels them to leave immediately, and Giovanelli goes to get the carriage. Daisy doesn’t seem at all embarrassed, though after a minute of chatting she asks why Winterbourne is silent. He only begins to laugh. When she asks if he really thought her to be engaged the other day, he says that it doesn’t matter: he now thinks it makes little difference if she’s engaged or not. Daisy’s eyes fix themselves on Winterbourne, but as she’s about to speak, Giovanelli calls that the carriage is ready. In a strange tone, Daisy declares that she doesn’t care whether or not she gets Roman fever, and the carriage rolls away.

Winterbourne mentions to no one the circumstances of his meeting with Daisy, but in a few days all the Americans seem to know about it—they would have found out at the hotel upon Daisy’s return, Winterbourne realizes. Still, he no longer feels very sorry that Daisy should be gossiped about.

A few days later, the same gossips reveal that Daisy is seriously ill. Winterbourne goes to the hotel at once, where a few other acquaintances are in Mrs. Miller’s salon, and Randolph is declaring that Daisy is sick with the fever from wandering around at night.

Mrs. Miller appears, seeming distressed but composed, though she does continue to talk a great deal about Dr. Davis. Mrs. Miller tells Winterbourne that Daisy has asked her to tell him that Daisy was never engaged to Mr. Giovanelli—who has disappeared since Daisy has been sick. Mrs. Miller doesn’t think he’s such a gentleman after all. Anyway, she concludes, Daisy asked her three times to give that message to Winterbourne, and to ask him if he remembers when they went to a castle in Switzerland.

A week later Daisy dies, and she is buried in the small Protestant cemetery in Rome. There are more mourners than one might have predicted, given the scandal. Giovanelli is there, looking pale. Finally he says that Daisy was the most beautiful and amiable lady he’d ever seen. He adds that she was the most innocent, too. Winterbourne looks at him and repeats that last phrase as a question. Giovanelli repeats what he said. Winterbourne, angry, asks why Giovanelli took her to the Coliseum. Giovanelli says he was not afraid for himself, and she wanted to go. If she had lived, he says, she never would have married him. Winterbourne looks down at the flowers, and when he turns back, Mr. Giovanelli has gone.

Winterbourne leaves Rome soon. The next summer he meets his aunt again at Vevay. One day he reflects to Mrs. Costello that he had done an injustice to Daisy: she gave him a message before her death that he only understands now. She would have appreciated his esteem of her, he says. Winterbourne says Mrs. Costello was right to have said, last summer, that he was susceptible to making a mistake. He’s lived abroad too long, he says. Yet Winterbourne goes back to live in Geneva, where some say he is studying, and others that he is involved with a foreign lady.