Chapter 19

In Rome, Will stares at the Belvedere Torso in the Vatican. His friend, a young German painter called Adolf Naumann, comes up to him and remarks on the beauty of a young woman nearby, saying that she should be dressed as a nun to make a perfect subject for a painting. However, he can see that she is married because she is wearing a wedding ring. Will says that he knows the woman, who is married to his cousin, Casaubon, but he has only met her once and had no idea that she was coming to Rome. Naumann wants Will to introduce him to Mrs. Casaubon, so he can paint her portrait, but Will says that “English ladies are not at everybody’s service as models.” He finds that he is not only annoyed with his friend for his flippant attitude but irritated with himself for becoming so annoyed over such a trivial matter. 

Chapter 20

Two hours after Will saw her in the Vatican, Dorothea is in her apartment on the Via Sistina, sobbing bitterly. She does not know why she is so unhappy and is inclined to blame herself for her “spiritual poverty.” She has been married to Casaubon for six weeks and has been in Rome for five, seeing all the beautiful sights of the city, yet she has felt dull and forlorn. She tells herself that her husband has not changed. He is learned and thoughtful, and expresses laudable sentiments. However, there is a lack of understanding between them. When Dorothea tries to ask Casaubon how he feels about the works of art with which they are surrounded, the answers he gives are cold, formal, and dismissive. 

As they make plans to return to Lowick, Dorothea asks if Casaubon will now begin to use all the notes he has made to write the book he has been planning for so long. She offers to help him in any way she can. Casaubon, however, is sensitive on this point because he is doubtful of his own abilities and is angered by this suggestion, which seems accusatory to him. He tells her coldly that he knows how to conduct his own work, the details of which are inexplicable to “ignorant onlookers.” This arouses Dorothea’s indignation, and the couple has their first quarrel. Both are shocked at their anger toward one another. 

Chapter 21

As Dorothea cries in her apartment, she is interrupted by a visit from Will, who explains that he had not known the Casaubons were in Rome until he saw her at the Vatican. He found their address at the post office, then came immediately to pay his respects. Dorothea says that Casaubon is away, as he usually is from breakfast until dinner because he is so busy with his work. Will is shocked to find that, having married such a beautiful young woman, Casaubon leaves her alone every day and spends his honeymoon “groping after his mouldy futilities” in dusty libraries. 

Will mentions that many of his friends in Rome are German and says that he thinks Casaubon’s work would be much easier and more advanced if he could read German because so much recent scholarly work in the field of mythology is written in that language. He compares Casaubon to a man “groping about in woods with a pocket-compass” when good roads are available if he knew where to look for them. Dorothea is thoroughly alarmed by the thought that Casaubon’s work might be futile. When Casaubon returns, he greets Will politely and invites him to dinner the following day. However, he is...