- As Wilhelm leaves the brokerage office, he realizes that all the time he thought he was using Tamkin to stay afloat, Tamkin was actually using him.
- The same elderly busker who shouted at Wilhelm on his way into the office points at him again on his way back out. Wilhelm decides to ignore "the omen," even though the "hoary old fiddler" reminds him of the Devil (7.2).
- Wilhelm heads back to the Hotel Gloriana, and telephones Tamkin's room from the lobby. When he gets no answer, he heads upstairs in the elevator.
- When Wilhelm reaches Tamkin's room, a chambermaid is cleaning it. He heads inside to see if Tamkin is there, and takes a close look around while he's at it. He uses Tamkin's telephone to call the lobby, and when he's convinced that no one in the hotel knows where Tamkin is, he tries to track down his father instead.
- Wilhelm heads down to the baths on the hotel's bottom floor, where he thinks he'll find his father. Sure enough, Dr. Adler is lying on a table, waiting for his massage therapist to start.
- Dr. Adler tells Wilhelm that he got his note—the one asking him to cover this month's rent—but he refuses to foot the bill.
- Wilhelm confesses that he's lost the last of his money, but Dr. Adler won't budge. In fact, Wilhelm's father is furious at his son for being so incompetent and irresponsible.
- Wilhelm leaves in anger and misery, and heads back to the hotel lobby. There, the clerk gives him a message from his wife.
- Wilhelm telephones Margaret to see what's up, and she complains about the postdated check he sent her the week before. Wilhelm tells her that he has no money, and Margaret advises him to go back to the Rojax Corporation.
- Wilhelm tries to convince Margaret to get a job of her own—he paid for her degree, after all—but she refuses to work outside the home when she has two young children to bring up.
- As Wilhelm begs Margaret to cut him some slack, she reminds him that it was he who left her, and he who had an affair.
- When Wilhelm gets worked up, Margaret hangs up on him.
- Wilhelm tries to tear the payphone from the wall.
- Wilhelm leaves the hotel lobby and heads out into the street. He catches sight of a funeral procession not too far away, and thinks he sees Tamkin standing outside with the mourners.
- As he moves toward the man he thinks is Tamkin, Wilhelm gets caught up in the crowd of mourners, and is herded into the funeral parlor with everyone else.
- Inside the funeral parlor, Wilhelm finds himself in line to pay his last respects. He decides to go along with it, because at least it's nice and cool in there.
- When Wilhelm reaches the coffin, the sight of the dead man—not much older than him—fills him with sorrow. He stands to the side to let the other mourners pass by, and begins to cry.
- Overcome by the weight of his troubles, Wilhelm begins to sob openly, and is soon having a loud and tearful fit. The other mourners look at him with sympathy, and wonder who he is.