In twentieth century Ireland, Mrs. Corn and Kathy help take care of a baby at Mrs. Archer’s house when an old man selling shoelaces shows up at the front door. Mrs. Archer feels sympathetic and goes to retrieve a quarter, and the old man suddenly collapses at her doorstep. The women argue about whether the man is drunk or unsafe to have around the baby. Mrs. Archer tells them to bring a chair, but not the good one. Kathy insists that the man is just starving, and Mrs. Archer cooks up some eggs for him. They bring him a glass of sherry and continue to judge and talk about him right in front of his face. Mrs. Archer frets over what her husband might think if he hears of this incident, but Kathy brushes off her worries. Mrs. Archer is hesitant to give the man the pie she saved for dinner but concedes. She sets the table and then redoes it to put a spread-out paper bag underneath the man's plate. The women serve him the meal, and he introduces himself as John O’Flaherty. He also tells them that he knew Yeats and recites a line from his poem. Before he leaves, he makes it clear what terrible hosts the women were and says he would never serve bad sherry to a guest.