The chapter opens with a conversation between the two young men, who have just arrived at the barlow. The narrator tells the young men that he is sorry that they lost their way on the way to the bar, but that they did not have time to wait for him. He tells them that the bar is a nice place to live, and that the people there are very nice. The young men tell the narrator that they are from New Jersey and that they went to school there. They tell him that his parents stayed behind, so he has his own apartment in the new town. He explains that his father must have been a member of the New York mafia, because he sent his daughter away from danger in order to protect her from being a target of "heartless hitmen." The narrator explains that he has figured out the secret of the young man's father's identity and that it is all right for him to come clean about it.