A solitary, effete bank cashier named James Duffy becomes acquainted with a woman named Mrs. Sinico at a Dublin concert. They meet regularly to discuss art and ideas, first at her house (with the full knowledge of her husband, Captain Sinico), and then at her cottage outside the city, where they grow close both intellectually and emotionally. When Mrs. Sinico reaches for Duffy’s hand, however, he insists that they stop seeing one another. Four years later, Duffy reads in the newspaper about Mrs. Sinico’s death, apparently by suicide. At first he feels revolted, ashamed that he ever considered her a peer. Then Duffy begins to feel guilty: Did his rejection of her result in Mrs. Sinico’s suicide? Finally he identifies and empathizes with Mrs. Sinico, realizing that her aloneness mirrored his own—and that he is now more alone than ever.
