The air of the room chilled his shoulders. He stretched himself cautiously along under the sheets and lay down beside his wife. One by one they are all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age. He thought of how she who lay beside him had locked in her heart for so many years that image of her lovers eyes when he had told her that he did not wish to live.
房間裡的空氣令他的兩肩感到寒冷。他小心翼翼地將身子伸展到被子下面，躺在他妻子的身邊，他們會一個接一個的全成為幽影。最好是披著一種激情的全面榮光勇敢地走進另外一個世界，勝過因為老邁而可憐的褪淡萎縮。他想到，躺在他身邊的她，這麼些年來，都在他的心扉裡面鎖著她情人向她說他不想活下去時的眼神。
A petticoat string dangled to the floor. One boot stood upright, its limp upper fallen down: the fellow of it lay upon its side. He wondered at his riot of emotions of an hour before. From what had it proceeded? From his aunt’s supper, from his own foolish speech, from the wine and dancing, the merry-making when saying good-night in the hall, the pleasure of the walk along the river in the snow. Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon be a shade with the shade of Patrick Morkan and his horse. He had caught the haggard look upon her face for a moment when she was singing Arrayed for a Bridal. Soon, perhaps, he would be sitting in that same drawing room, dressed in black, his silk hat on his knees. The blinds would be drawn down and Aunt Kate would be sitting beside him, crying and blowing her nose and telling him how Julia had died. He would cast about in his mind for some words that might console her, and would find only lame and useless ones. Yes, yes: that would happen very soon.
一條襯裙帶子垂到地板上。一隻女靴直立著，軟軟的靴幫子倒了下來：它的夥伴躺在它身旁。他回味著一個小時之前他心內裡的激越情緒。那是打從哪兒開始的呢？從他阿姨的晚餐，從他那篇愚蠢的演講，從葡萄酒跟跳舞，在大廳道晚安時的逗笑，沿河岸踏雪而行的快意。可憐的茱麗葉阿姨！她很快也會成一片幽影，與派崔克・莫肯跟他那匹馬的幽影在一起了。她在唱「為了新郎而打扮」時，他有那麼一剎那瞧見了他面龐上的憔悴神色。說不定他很快就會再坐在那同一間客廳裡，一身素黑，膝蓋上擱著一頂絲帽。百葉窗都放了下來，而凱特阿姨會坐在他旁邊，邊哭邊擤鼻涕，告訴他茱麗怎麼死的。他會搜索枯腸，想找些話來安慰她，卻只找到彆腳不管用的。不錯，不錯，那很快就會發生的。
〈逝者〉（The Dead）的主角迦伯列・孔洛伊（Gabriel Conroy）在參加完姨媽的晚會之後，他的妻子葛瑞妲（Gretta）與他坦白自己在晚會上聽到一首歌覺得難過，歌詞裡面說有個人凍死了，她就想到過去曾經有人追求自己，遭到拒絕以後，在寒冷的冬天等著與她見面，因而肺炎而死。迦伯列先是感到震驚，他以為相處已久的枕邊人心裡面應該只有自己（在從晚會回到住處之前，他還想像著妻子應該是想重溫夫妻兩人熱戀時的感覺），結果卻是一直在惦記著另外一個人（而且還是個死人）。迦伯列也覺得很羞愧，他一直以為生活的環境中幾乎所有的人都以自己為中心，事實上在他太太的心裡面卻不是（也許在很多人的心裡面也都不是這麼回事，像是小女僕莉莉，或是他的女同學艾芙）。像他的姨媽或親戚們都覺得他學歷高，書念得多，社會地位也高（而且熟悉歐洲文化，不像土生土長的愛爾蘭鄉巴佬），整個晚會的活動也是仰賴著他做很多事情，吃晚餐的時候要他替大家切鵝，為大家演講，還有就是帶著大家一起唱歌，感謝老太太們的款待。在那個晚會結束，賓主盡歡之後，大家在門口等馬車，迦伯列還給大家講了一個笑話，他說他們有個叫做派崔克・莫肯（Patrick Morkan）的遠親，有一座磨坊，這磨坊是用一匹叫做強尼（Johnny）的馬來拉的，莫肯先生有天心血來潮，要把這馬套上龍頭，拉馬車去公園看閱兵，本來走得還滿順利，結果這馬經過一座雕像，以為這是一座磨坊，就繞著它一圈一圈走起來，迦伯列一邊說著這笑話，一邊還學著莫肯先生趕馬車的樣子，對著馬大叫說：「強尼，你到底在幹麻，真搞不懂這畜生！」迦伯列生動的表演讓大家都笑翻了。這大概就是一個紳士應該有的樣子吧，適時帶起整個場面的歡樂氣氛，反正難堪的也只有已經過世很久的莫肯先生跟那匹馬。
在葛瑞妲對迦伯列坦白之後，迦伯列又想到了這匹馬，他說他的阿姨（也許還有那參加晚會的所有人）很快就會跟莫肯先生與強尼的幽魂並列在一起了。一年一年的晚會，在寒冬中互相取暖的人，在重複的歡笑裡面逐漸凋零，就像老強尼在一圈一圈繞著磨坊的腳步下衰老死去，無止境的單一生活步調其實本身就是一場惡夢，也許一點溫暖、一點旁人給予的讚賞、或是一點點自以為是的無所謂，都可以讓這場惡夢稍微得到舒緩，不過終究是在人們終極沉眠之前，不停輪迴的一場辛酸與荒謬，或者說，在這不停輪迴的當下，人早就已經沉眠了。而這場夢，到底是自己不願意醒過來，還是無法醒過來，也很難去辨別，就像老強尼看到雕像就要去繞著轉，聖誕晚會還是要去參加，年復一年，大家都在同樣的歌聲裡面跳著同樣的方塊舞，試圖遮掩心裡面最荒寒的某塊角落。有時候遮掩失敗了，在某個不經意的當下，所有的溫暖、讚賞與自以為是就是那麼不可避免地不堪一擊，突然發現自己成了一直在嘲笑的那匹難堪的馬，像是一個逝者突然在長眠中醒來，為已經死去的自己哭泣：
Generous tears filled Gabriel’s eyes. He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love. The tears gathered more thickly in his eyes and in the partial darkness he imagined he saw the form of a young man standing under a dripping tree. Other forms were near. His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend, their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself which these dead had one time reared and lived in was dissolving and dwindling.
迦伯列的眼睛裡溢滿了大量的眼淚，他自己從未對任何女子有過那樣的感覺，然而他知道，那樣一種感覺必定是愛。他眼中的淚水越積越多了，而在幽幽的黑暗中，他想像他看見了一個少年人，站在一棵低著雨水的樹下面。他旁邊還有別的影子。他的靈魂已走近到無數逝靈所居之境域。他意識到他們飄忽明誠之間的存在。他自己的存在也漸漸隱入到一個不可觸及的灰暗世界：這些逝靈從前所居住過的實地世界，則在漸漸瓦解與縮小。
「無數逝靈所居之境域」（that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead）或「不可觸及的灰暗世界」（a impalpable world）在喬伊斯的作品中無所不在，它所描述的不是一個物理上的死亡世界，卻可以讓這個還沒真死掉的物理世界隨時「瓦解與縮小」（dissolving and dwindling），就像老強尼雖死，那繞著磨坊停不下來的腳步仍然會在這個世界散布著顫慄的喜感，替不停荒謬行事的人提供一個清澈的鏡像。
