“Every one asks me what I ‘think’ of everything, […] and I make answer as I can—begging or dodging the question, putting them off with any nonsense. It wouldn’t matter to any of them really, […] for, even were it possible to meet in that stand-and-deliver way so silly a demand on so big a subject, my ‘thoughts’ would still be almost altogether about something that concerns only myself.”

The opening lines of the story introduce Spencer Brydon’s character. He is often more preoccupied with his internal thoughts than with the way in which others perceive him, implying a degree of self-absorption. The “big” subject that he here references is the change that has taken place in New York City since his departure; his struggle to articulate the immensity of that change establishes the gulf that separates the US from Europe.

“He had lived his life with his back so turned to such concerns and his face addressed to those of so different an order that he scarce knew what to make of this lively stir, in a compartment of his mind never yet penetrated, of a capacity for business and a sense for construction.”

Brydon has not had to work because of his generational wealth, nor has he even needed to oversee the management of his property. When he involves himself in the latter, it awakens The Fear of Missed Opportunity in the form of thoughts of whom he might have been had he remained in the US. Notably, Henry James’s metaphor for this change of attitude is spatial; the idea that Brydon is uncovering a new “compartment” within himself links his journey of self-discovery to the house itself, foreshadowing his later explorations.

“Above all, to memories and histories into which he could enter, she was as exquisite for him as some pale pressed flower (a rarity to begin with), and, failing other sweetnesses, she was a sufficient reward of his effort.”

This explains how Brydon perceives Alice Staverton. She is precious to him because she is a pretty memory who has not changed over time. He associates her with the less built-up city of his youth, but he also takes comfort in her apparent steadiness precisely because he is less sure of his own identity; the idea that Alice could only ever have been who she is assuages his anxieties about the course his own life has taken.