The young lady soon showed that she enjoyed talking. She told Winterbourne that her home was in the state of New York. And she also told him that she was going to Rome for the winter, with her mother and Randolph.
Winterbourne wanted to find out more, so he put his hand on her brother’s arm and pulled the boy toward him.
“What’s your name?” he asked the child.
“Randolph C. Miller,” said the boy. He pointed the stick at his sister. “And her name is Daisy Miller. But that isn’t her real name is Annie P. Miller. And my father’s name is Ezra B. Miller. But he don’t come with us to Europe. He’s in America. He’s got a big business in Schenectady, and he’s very rich.”
“Randolph, you shouldn’t say that!” said Miss Miller.
The little boy walked away, dragging his stick along the path.
“My brother doesn’t like Europe,” said Miss Miller. “He wants to go back.”
“Yes,” she said. “He doesn’t have any friends here. He has no-one to play with.”
“Does your brother have a tutor?” asked Winterbourne.
“Mother was going to get him a tutor,” Miss Miller replied. “We met an America lady named Mrs Sanders,” and she told us about a very good tutor. We were going to ask him to travel with us. But Randolph said that he didn’t want a tutor traveling with us. Randolph is very smart. He already knows lots of things, and he’s going to attend college.”
Miss Miller talked about her family, and about many other things. While she talked, she looked at the garden, at the people walking past, and at the view across the lake. She talked to Winterbourne as if she had known him for a long time. He liked this very much. He had not heard a young girl talk so much for many years. Miss Miller sat very quietly, but her lips any eyes moved all the time. She told Winterbourne about her family’s travels in Europe, and she talked about the hotels where they had stayed.
“I’ve never seen so many hotels in my life,” she said. “There are so many hotels here in Europe!” But Miss Miller was not complaining. She seemed to be very pleased with everything. She thought that the hotels were all very good. And she thought that Europe was charming.
“l haven’t been disappointed at all,” she went on. “Maybe I’m not disappointed because I’d heard so much about Europe before. I have many friends who’ve been here many times. And, of course, I have so many dresses and things from Paris. The only thing that I don’t like,” She said, “is European society. There isn’t any society here-no dinners, or parties, or parties or dances. Well, I think there’s some society somewhere, but I haven’t found it. I do like society, and I‘ve always had a lot of it. I’ve been society in Schenectady, and in New York. In New York City I had lots of society. Last winter, seventeen dinners were organized for me. Three of the dinners were organized by gentlemen.
“I’ve more friends in New York than in Schenectady,” Daisy Miller continued. “I have more gentlemen friends in than city, and more young lady friends too.” She stopped talking for a moment. Then she looked at Winterbourne with her bright eyes and smiled gently.
“I’ve always enjoyed the friendship of gentlemen,” she said.
Winterbourne did not know what to say. Polite young ladies did not talk in this way. Miss Daisy Miller was very charming, but she was also very forward. Was she just a pretty, innocent young girl from New York State? Or was she dishonest and too bold? Was she a person who always made sure that she got what she wanted?
“I’ve lived in Geneva for too long,” Winterbourne thought. “I don’t understand Americans anymore.”
He had certainly never met a young girl like Daisy Miller before. Winterbourne decided that she was probably a flirt-a pretty American flirt. Daisy Miller certainly did not flirt because she wanted men’s admiration. He had known some older, married women who behaved in this way. They were dangerous, terrible women. But Daisy was unsophisticated-she was not experienced in the ways of the world.
“Yes, she’s just a pretty American flirt,” Winterbourne said to himself. He was pleased that he now understood her. But he had never really known a flirt before, and he was not sure how to behave with one.