Mr. Duffy is a middle-aged man who lives a quiet, ordered, and isolated life in a suburb of Dublin, as far from the city as possible. His home is austere and unadorned. Duffy appears somewhat unfriendly and unforgiving, and he always seems to be disappointed in other people. His habits are orderly, regular, and repetitive: he works as a bank cashier, eats in the same restaurant every day, spends his free time alone or attending concerts, and only sees family on special occasions. Duffy prefers this life of distance from other people and social obligations.
His life changes, though, when one night at a concert he meets Mrs. Emily Sinico, a middle-aged, married woman with one daughter. Defying conventions, she strikes up a conversation with Duffy, and after meeting again at another event, they get to know each other better. Though she is married, Mrs. Sinico does not warn Duffy away, and they begin to meet regularly at Mrs. Sinico’s house. Mrs. Sinico is somewhat starved for companionship, since her husband, Captain Sinico, is often away at sea. Moreover, he has lost interest in his wife romantically, so he does not perceive Duffy as a rival. He actually thinks Duffy visits in order to court their daughter, Mary Sinico.
Duffy and Mrs. Sinico become very close, giving each other the companionship they both need and engaging in intellectual conversations that they both value. One night, however, the relationship changes forever. As Duffy describes his belief that human souls must always be lonely, Mrs. Sinico takes his hand and presses it to her cheek. Shocked, Duffy interprets this gesture as a sexual overture. He cuts off contact with her for a week, later meeting and breaking off the relationship completely. Mrs. Sinico is visibly disturbed, trembling and almost collapsing.
Four years go by, and Duffy’s life returns to order and isolation. He avoids going to concerts for fear of meeting Mrs. Sinico. One night while eating dinner, he chances to read an article in the newspaper called “Death of a Lady at Sydney Parade: A Painful Case.” It describes Mrs. Sinico’s death in a train accident. She had been trying to cross the tracks when she was struck and killed by a slow-moving train. It is unclear if she was hit by accident or if she committed suicide. The article gives some background on what led to the accident. Captain Sinico says that two years prior, Mrs. Sinico’s habits had begun to change. Mary Sinico specifies that her mother had begun to go out at night to purchase alcohol, a habit Mary had tried to curb by advising her mother to join a temperance league. After examining the evidence around the accident, the article ends by reporting that no blame for it was assigned to anyone.
After reading the article, Duffy wanders through the city, processing the news of his former companion’s tragic death. At first, he reacts with moral condemnation, thinking that her death is revolting. Her descent into alcoholism makes him feel justified in having cast her away. He questions how he could have ever felt such a degraded to person to be “his soul’s companion.” Then, Duffy’s mind begins to wander. He goes to a pub and orders a drink, then another, and sits for a while reflecting on his time with Mrs. Sinico. The reality of her death hits him, and he asks himself if he could have done something to prevent it. He thinks that she was probably very lonely after they stopped seeing each other, and realizes that he’s going to spend the rest of his life in the same kind of loneliness.
Duffy leaves the pub and wanders the city, his feelings intensifying. He begins to believe that he is to blame for Mrs. Sinico’s death, thinking that his abrupt ending of their relationship prompted her alcoholism, depression, and possible suicide. Continuing to wander the city, he comes to a park and sees some people having a furtive sexual encounter. This sight drives home the point that he is completely separate from life’s greatest joys. He had a real connection with Mrs. Sinico and threw it away for the sake of propriety. More than that, he feels guilty for his actions and responsible for her death, which he now thinks that he “sentenced her to.” Then, as a train passes by, Duffy imagines hearing Mrs. Sinico’s voice in the sounds of its engine. As it fades into the distance and the night grows quiet, Duffy seems to lose his feelings of grief and connection to her memory and feels that he is, once again, alone.
