This section opens with Winterborne hearing from Mrs. Costello that Daisy Miller is still compromising herself. Thus, we get from the aunt the distant view of Daisy before we meet her again. Winterborne still maintains that she is ignorant or innocent, but that she is not really bad.
When Daisy meets Winterborne again, she acts as though they are very old and intimate friends. In other words, she does flirt with him. Of more importance is her desire and request to bring Mr. Giovanelli to Mrs. Walker’s party. If Daisy thought she was doing anything improper, she would not have made the request. But the point is that Daisy is indeed innocent. She has met someone and has responded to that person. Now she wishes to bring that person to a party. It seems a natural reaction and if it is improper, then Daisy thinks the restrictions of society are unnatural.
Furthermore, when Daisy wants to go for a walk, she sees nothing wrong about this. When Mrs. Walker objects, Daisy says she doesn’t want to do anything improper, but then she proceeds to do just that. She asks Winterborne to go with her because she is more interested in living than she is in the proper forms of behavior.
While Daisy is the spontaneous person, her friend Mr. Giovanelli is aware of all the proper forms of behavior and decorum. He is extremely urbane and is able to cover his disappointment and seem even more charming in proportion to how much he is disappointed. This demeanor is just the opposite from that of Daisy Miller, who allows people to know her feelings immediately. Furthermore, Mr. Giovanelli represents the imitation of a gentleman. This again reflects on Daisy, who cannot tell the real thing from the imitation.
During the walk with Daisy and Mr. Giovanelli, Winterborne is still unable to tell what type of person Daisy actually is. She was an “inscrutable combination of audacity and innocence.” She showed no awareness of shame or improper conduct and responded gaily to any event.
Mrs. Walker’s intervention indicates that Daisy is certainly more concerned with life than she is in the proper forms. She knows that what she is doing is innocent and she sees no reason why she should deny herself pleasure simply to satisfy the whims of an established convention. Perhaps no sentence characterizes Daisy as well as does her comment that she does not want to know what Mrs. Walker would tell her. In other words, Daisy would rather not hear something that is unpleasant. She builds her life on enjoyment and appreciation rather than adherence to staid and set rules. She is, furthermore, quite direct and honest in saying that if she is improper for walking in public with a man, then she is completely improper and should be given up. In other words, Daisy would like people to respond to her and quit judging her. She is not immoral, but prefers to live life rather than abide by rules that seem designed to deny life.
Finally, even Winterborne questions the rules that condemn Daisy’s actions. He has been with her while she was committing something improper and found her charming and innocent. Consequently, why should an innocent girl be censured for her actions? As Winterborne says to Mrs. Walker: “I suspect . . . that you and I have lived too long at Geneva.” He means, of course, that they are too much influenced by Europeans’ emphasis on proper decorum and have forgotten the spontaneity with which Americans approach life.
