 The narrator's marriage started out nicely, but his miserly and reserved ways are taxing to his young wife.A dearth of communication and disagreements about how the pawnshop should be run eventually result in arguments, though the narrator insists that they never quarreled.The narrator's wife begins to make a habit of leaving during the day, and eventually it is discovered that she is visiting Efimovich, a member of the narrator's former regiment.