Roman Fever

The “dark lady” of the tale, Alida is the character whose thoughts most shape “Roman Fever”—at least at first. The widow of Delphin Slade, she sorely misses the social whirl associated with being “the Slade’s wife,” for she had prided herself on being her brilliant husband’s social equal (572). At the time of the story, the only family she has left is her daughter, Jenny, as her only son died several years before his father. A woman with “high colour and energetic brows” (750), Alida Slade is bored by her life, left now with nothing to do and too much “time to kill” (749).

Even though she emerged victorious from the contest for Delphin’s affections, Alida is persistently jealous of Grace. “Would she never cure herself of envying [Grace]?” Alida wonders. “Perhaps she had begun too long ago” (756). This feeling is also evident in the way she compares Grace’s daughter, Barbara, with Jenny. Lamenting that Jenny is a simple “foil” for Barbara, Alida grumbles that Grace’s daughter will win the affection of “one of the best matches in Rome” (755), securing a brilliant future for herself and, by extension, her mother. Even though she married Delphin, in other words, Alida retains a sense that she has been slighted, partially justifying Grace’s assessment that she was “disappointed.