Daisy Miller by Henry James. Part 8.
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A night at the Colosseum
A week later, Winterbourne was walking home alone at eleven o’clock at night after dinner with friends. He decided to go into the Colosseum. Outside, he noticed a carriage was waiting. He walked into the silent arena in the moonlight. One half of the gigantic circus was in the shadow. The place had never seemed more splendid, and he remembered Byron’s famous lines. But then he thought, ‘The poets love the Colosseum by night, but the doctors say it’s dangerous because of the risk of getting malaria. I should go soon.’
As he walked towards the great cross in the centre of the arena, he saw that two people were on the steps at its base. One, a woman, was sitting on a step; her companion was standing beside her. Then Winterbourne heard the woman’s voice: ‘He looks at us as one of those old lions must have looked at the Christians!’ It was the voice of Miss Daisy Miller.
‘Let’s hope he’s not very hungry,’ Giovanelli replied with a laugh.
Winterbourne stopped. He felt a combination of horror and relief. Now at last he knew what to think of Miss Daisy Miller: she was not a respectable young lady. He felt angry with himself for having spent so much time trying to decide what to think of her. He turned to walk out of the Colosseum, but then she spoke again: ‘It’s Mr Winterbourne! He saw me, and he didn’t say hello!’ How cleverly she played the part of the innocent! But he could not just ignore her. As he walked towards the great cross, Daisy stood up and Giovanelli raised his hat. Winterbourne now began to think how crazy she was to be there. A delicate young girl should not spend the evening in the Colosseum: she might get Roman fever. ‘It’s now clear,’ thought Winterbourne, ‘that she’s an immoral young woman, but even so I don’t want her to die of malaria.’
‘How long have you been here?’ he asked angrily.
Daisy, lovely in the moonlight, looked at him for a moment then said gently, ‘We’ve been here all evening. Isn’t it pretty?’
‘You could get malaria! You won’t think that’s pretty!’ cried Winterbourne. Then, turning to Giovanelli, he’s said, ‘You’re a Roman. You know about Roman fever. Why did you bring her here?’
‘Ah,’ said the handsome Roman, ‘I’m not afraid of getting malaria myself.’
‘But what about this young lady?’
‘I told the Signorina that it was dangerous, but she’s never cautious.’
‘I’ve never been ill a day in my life!’ said Daisy. ‘I wanted to see the Colosseum by moonlight, and we’ve had a lovely time. When I get home, Eugenio will give me some of his medicine against malaria. He has some splendid pills.’
‘Well, go home now and take one!’ cried Winterbourne.
Giovanelli went out to find the carriage. Daisy followed with Winterbourne. She did not seem at all embarrassed. She talked about the beauty of the place and how glad she was to seen it by moonlight. Then she noticed that Winterbourne was silent.
‘Why are you so quiet?’ she asked.
Winterbourne did not reply but began to laugh.
‘Did you believe that I was engaged the other day?’ she asked.
‘It doesn’t matter what I believed the other day?’ replied Winterbourne, still laughing. ‘Now I believe it makes very little difference whether you’re engaged or not!’
Daisy looked at him, but in the darkness he could not see her face. Then Giovanelli came to say that the carriage was ready.
‘Don’t forget to take Eugenio’s pills!’ said Winterbourne.
Daisy replied in a trembling voice, ‘I don’t care whether I get Roman fever or not!’ Then she got into the carriage, and it drove off.