Summary

In Chapter 44, Stanley and Claudio visit Adrian Welles at his home. They hear discordant music as they arrive, and the stray cats are swarming around the front porch. A tall woman opens the door, and Stanley asks for Welles. They have been expecting him. She introduces herself as Synnove, Adrian’s wife. She comments on the cats, and they tell her they have been fishing. They offer her some. She invites them in for tea. She tells Stanley that she has heard all about him and that he found Welles’s poetry in New York. She says that Welles has suddenly become inspired to write again.

Stanley becomes distracted by the TV, which is playing old newsreels of war footage. All of a sudden, he notices Cynthia, the dirty-blonde girl from the coffeehouse. Stanley is startled mostly because he did not notice her...