This lonely truth is brought home to Herzog when he dashes to Chicago to protect, he tells himself, his daughter from Gersbach and Madeleine, who are living together. As Herzog sneaks up to the house and looks through the bathroom window, he is greeted by a scene that goes far to dispel his mistaken pretensions of self and his misinformed idea of his relation to others. When he sees the hated pretender Gersbach tenderly and affectionately giving his daughter a bath and little Junie delighting in the scrubbing, Herzog looks at Gersbach and thinks:

The hated traits were all there. But see how he was
with June, scooping water on her playfully, kindly
... The child jumped up and down with delight ...
Moses might have killed him now ... There were
two bullets in the chamber ... But they would stay
there. Herzog clearly recognized that ... Firing this
pistol was...