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Little Chandler enters the bar and immediately feels out of place and self-conscious, convinced that all of the other bar patrons are staring at him and judging him. Finally, he catches sight of Gallaher who is standing confidently at the bar. Gallaher waves Little Chandler over and Little Chandler is surprised to see Gallaher’s unhealthy pallor and thinning hair, which Gallaher blames on the stress of press life. Gallaher then orders them both a single malt whiskey. Little Chandler accepts his but dilutes it with water, claiming to not be much of a drinker. Once the men are situated with their drinks, Little Chandler and Gallaher talk about foreign cities, Gallaher’s job, and their old friends who also remained in Dublin. Throughout the conversation, during which the men consume three glasses of whiskey and smoke two cigars, Little Chandler simultaneously recoils from and admires Gallaher’s gruff, “vulgar” manners and tales of foreign places. He is displeased with Gallaher’s presumptuous way of addressing others and wonders about the immorality of a place like Paris with its infamous dance halls. At the same time, he envies Gallaher’s worldliness and experience. Little Chandler admits that he has not lived an adventurous life like his friend and has only traveled as far as the Isle of Man, something that does not impress Gallaher. Throughout their conversation, Gallaher makes a series of comments about Little Chandler’s pious and conservative personality and implies that he would be unequipped to handle more lively and provocative cities.
The conversation then shifts away from Gallaher’s experiences as Gallaher asks Little Chandler about his own life. Gallaher is specifically interested in Little Chandler’s recent marriage; he and his wife have only been married for less than two years. Little Chandler is thrown off-guard when he, himself, becomes the subject of conversation, which causes him to feel uneasy and blush often. He tells Gallaher about his wife and their son in an awkward, stammering manner. He then manages to invite Gallaher to visit his home and meet his family that evening, but Gallaher explains that he has another appointment and must leave the bar soon. He feels both emasculated by Gallaher’s success and patronized by his rejection. The men have their final drink together, and the conversation returns to, and ends with, Gallaher and his bachelorhood. When Little Chandler insists that Gallaher will one day marry, his friend scoffs at the prospect, claiming that if he does so he will marry rich, but as it stands he is content to please himself with many women rather than become bored with one. Little Chandler also becomes irritated as they finish their final drink. He reflects that he is superior to Gallaher in both birth and education and is angry that his own timidity has caused him to be less successful than his friend.
