The speaker describes a woman who appears detached, cool, and unmoved, hiding the anguish of her inner life behind a calm exterior. To others, she seems almost scornful of emotion, meeting the world with cold, ironic eyes.
But that composure slips for a moment. When a woman with a child passes by, and when she overhears a man’s name spoken with bitter-sweet feeling, her hidden grief surfaces. Her eyes fill with baffled yearning and pain. The speaker senses something deeply private and looks away until she has put the mask back on. The mood is quiet, restrained, and sorrowful, combining respect for her self-control with compassion for the suffering underneath.