- As Mr. Perls leaves the breakfast table, Dr. Adler tells Wilhelm a little bit about his life.
- Wilhelm eats an enormous amount of food, and drinks "several cups of coffee" (3.4). When he's done, he doesn't quite know what to do with himself.
- As father and son sit in silence, Dr. Adler thinks about how disappointing and dirty his son is. In Wilhelm's defence, the novel's narrator says that our protagonist isn't "really so slovenly as his father found him to be" (3.6).
- Dr. Adler eventually asks Wilhelm if he's ever been down to the baths in the basement of the hotel. He tells him that they would do him some good.
- Wilhelm tells his father that he "can't take city life anymore," and that he wants to go back to the country (3.17).
- Dr. Adler replies that if Wilhelm wants to leave, he should.
- Wilhelm tries to air his troubles to his father, explaining how hard up he is because of Margaret's demands for child support.
- Dr. Adler tells Wilhelm that he should stop giving Margaret so much money, end of story.
- Since they're on the topic of money, Dr. Adler tells Wilhelm that his sister Catherine has been asking for money again. She wants Dr. Adler to support her artistic ambitions, but Dr. Adler is convinced that her paintings are worthless.
- Wilhelm works the conversation back around to his troubles with Margaret, and tries to convince his father that Margaret wants to ruin him.
- Dr. Adler doesn't really believe his son. He feels sure that all Margaret really wants is for Wilhelm to come back home and be a decent husband.
- Wilhelm works himself up, and pretends to strangle himself to show his father exactly what Margaret is doing to him.
- Dr. Adler is mortified that his son is making such a scene.
- Dr. Adler snaps and tells Wilhelm that his troubles are his own fault, and the two men begin to argue.
- When Wilhelm insists that he had to leave his wife, his father asks him bluntly if they were having "bed-trouble" (3.74). Then, as Wilhelm tries to defend himself, his father demands to know if he was having an affair.
- Turns out, he was!
- Wilhelm realizes that Dr. Adler is never going to see his side of things, but he breaks down and tells his father that he wants his help.
- Dr. Adler refuses. He tells Wilhelm that he sees other elderly people in the hotel putting themselves through hardship to support their no-good children, and he insists that he won't be one of them.
- Eventually, Wilhelm storms out.