Summary of Dublinrs

Gabriel carves the goose and runs through the topics of his after-dinner speech in his head. Gabriel finally takes a break from carving in order to eat, and the table discusses the state of operatic tenors in Ireland. (One of the most famous, Mr. Bartell D'Arcy, is at the party.) After the pudding, Gabriel gives a long speech on the topic of Irish hospitality and the generosity of times gone by. He concludes with a toast to the Misses Morkan, and the crowd sings, "For they are jolly gay fellows.".
             The hour is late; the party is breaking up. Gabriel and Gretta linger, he telling a story about Patrick Morkan, his grandfather, and his horse Johnny. Just as they are about to leave, Gabriel notices Gretta standing solemnly at the top of the stairs, listening to something. Mr. Bartell D'Arcy is singing an old song, "The Lass of Aughrim." At last, Gabriel and Gretta leave, walking through the cold to their hotel. Gabriel is full of joy and happiness about his wife; as he looks at her, he begins to think of scenes from their private life together. They finally find a cab, which takes them to their hotel. Gabriel begins to feel stirrings of desire as he thinks about Gretta; he imagines how he will call her to him when they are alone in their room.
             In the room, lit by a shaft of moonlight, Gretta seems tired and somewhat sad. Gabriel questions her, and she at last confides in him that the song, "The Lass of Aughrim," has reminded her of a boy she used to love when she was a young girl. This boy, Michael Furey, used to sing that song. He died when he was only 17. Very ill, he had slipped out in the rain to see Gretta before she went away, probably knowing the effort would kill him. When Gretta told him he would catch his death, he told her he did not care to live. A week after Gretta left for the convent school, he died.
             Gretta begins to sob, and Gabriel is overcome with humiliation and shame. While he was imaging his past with his wife and desiring her, his wife was remembering another man with whom she had truly been in love.