Summary

The narrator returns home after traveling across country for fourteen years. He arrives and a woman discusses with him all of the changes that have taken place since he was gone. They part ways and the man knows that at least for a while, it will be painful adjusting to living here as he takes the train into the city.

Analysis

The title of this story is very important, as it gives the reader the amount of time the main character has been away from his place of birth. The reader does not know the specifics of the time he has spent away, but it is strongly suggested that the nun he speaks with was a girl he once had romantic feelings for. The irony of having his life settled comes from the fact that most of the people the two discuss are dead...