 After a visit to a fortune teller, he decides to leave his wife and embarks on an odyssey through New York's seedy underbelly, which takes him to two bars, a bordello, and a peep show.When he accuses a three-card monte dealer of running a crooked game, the dealer and his shills beat Edmond to the ground.Increasingly convinced of the ugliness and difficulty of human existence, Edmond buys a knife from a pawnshop.