“It always will be, to me,” assented her friend Mrs. Ansley, with so slight a stress on the “me” that Mrs. Slade, though she noticed it, wondered if it were not merely accidental, like the random underlinings of old-fashioned letter-writers. “Grace Ansley was always old-fashioned,” she thought. Mrs. Slade waited nervously for another word or movement. None came, and at length she broke out: “I horrify you.” Mrs. Ansley’s hands dropped to her knees. The face they uncovered was streaked with tears. “I wasn’t thinking of you. I was thinking—it was the only letter I ever had from him!” These two quotations, both from Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever” portray the theme of denial that is prominent in the story. The first quote is spoken at the beginning of the story, as Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade are enjoying a view of Rome together from a restaurant terrace. The second quote takes place shortly after Mrs. Ansley learns that Mrs. Slade tried to undermine their friendship the l