Lily is leaving London to visit some old friends of hers at Grimsby. In their young days, Lily had gone on adventures with Sim and the Colonel to Italy and all around Europe before they parted ways, with Lily finally settling down in London, despite the other living situations she had looked into, ranging from Italy to Portugal. She will stay at Sim's home in Grimsby to reconnect with them all. Sim picks her up from the train station and they get reacquainted on the way to the house. At one point, the two of them considered each other lovers, though they had never been in love. Lily now was married, though because of the war, her husband was sent off. Lily doesn't mourn it, however, because the two of them were never very passionate about each other. This weekend, Lily hopes to reunite with the friends she's thought of as ghosts, because for so long they lived only as spectres of her imagination and memory. They have a grand meal at the house and discuss old memories and recent events, meanwhile Lily observes how different they've all become and how they don't match the ghost figures she preserved of them in her memory. They discuss World War II and Lily begins saying how she doesn't like wars, for they only create ruins and ghosts and she lives with enough of them already, but the Colonel lectures her, saying men need war because it provides excitement before they inevitably die someday. Lily goes to bed that night feeling terrible, not recognizing her old friends and not liking who they've become. The next day Lily is introduced to a younger woman that they've befriended named Grace. They go out to lunch, and to Lily's surprise, the Colonel says Grace and Sim will end up married. Sim pays for the lunch, and Lily notices how carefully he counts his change, since his finances have taken a hit after purchasing the house at Grimsby. Finally, Lily boards the train to return to London, exhausted, and prepares to forget.