- As Wilhelm sulks out of the dining room, he beats himself up for being such a loser.
- As he does, Wilhelm starts to think to himself that maybe the true "business of life, the real business," is to make mistakes, and suffer for them (4.3). If so, he's doing a bang-up job.
- Thinking about Dr. Adler again, Wilhelm seethes. He believes that his father's money is standing between them.
- In the lobby, Wilhelm tries to find a house phone so that he can call Dr. Tamkin. Before he finds one, he runs into the man himself.
- Tamkin asks what's got Wilhelm so worked up, and Wilhelm tells him it's a just a family matter.
- As the two men stand together in the lobby, Wilhelm tries to size up Tamkin. He thinks back to the morning, just four days ago, when he gave the doctor a power of attorney over the last of his savings.
- The novel's narrator fills in some of the details. After Wilhelm signed away his savings at the brokerage office, he doubled back later to make sure that he hadn't given Tamkin power over any other assets too.
- (Not that it would matter. Wilhelm has no other assets.)
- As Wilhelm and Tamkin stand together in the hotel lobby, Tamkin tries to get Wilhelm to talk about his troubles with his father. He tells him about another father-son pair that he's been treating, but Wilhelm doesn't quite believe him.
- Tamkin hasn't had his breakfast yet, so the two men head into the dining hall together.
- Tamkin continues to tell Wilhelm about his patients and their problems, and Wilhelm doesn't know whether to believe him or not. To him, the plain facts that Tamkin states seem impossible, but the deeper meanings behind his stories seem to have a ring of truth.
- As Tamkin talks, Wilhelm thinks back to other improbable stories the man has told him. He thinks to himself: "I must be a real jerk to sit and listen to such impossible stories. I guess I am a sucker for people who talk about the deeper things of life, even the way he does" (4.81).
- Wilhelm downs more coffee while Dr. Tamkin eats a plate of flapjacks, and as they sit together, Tamkin tells Wilhelm his views on the soul.
- Tamkin also tells Wilhelm that he's been treating him without his knowledge. Wilhelm doesn't know whether to feel flattered or outraged.
- After Tamkin finishes his breakfast, they get ready to head to the brokerage office.
- As they pass through the hotel lobby once more, Wilhelm leaves a note for his father, asking Dr. Adler to cover his rent for the month.
- Tamkin asks Wilhelm again about the fight he had with his father, and Wilhelm tells him more about it.
- As they walk down the street, Tamkin gives Wilhelm a poem to read—one that he wrote himself. Wilhelm doesn't really get it, but he tries to be polite.
- Feeling that the morning's figures will seal his fate once and for all, Wilhelm tries to prepare himself for the bad news that may be waiting around the corner.