Lucius Heyer seems to be recovering from his stroke and is disinclined to retire from the firm. This annoys Francon and Keating. Die, old man, die!
Cosmo-Slotnick Pictures, a Hollywood joint, announces a design contest for a splashy 40-story office building in New York. The building will house a movie theater in its lowest floors. This is a big deal; lots of architects are entering. For the entry from Francon and Heyer, Keating will draw up the design and be credited by name in the submission. Go, Peter, go!
Keating draws up a design with Renaissance features—Ralston Holcombe, who loves Renaissance, is one of the contest jurors. He hates his design, and for some reason he is angry at Roark (perhaps he resents that Roark would never draw a design that he, Roark, hated), but he goes to Roark for help. Roark spends several hours showing Keating where the design can be untangled and simplified. (Roark isn't entering the competition because he would "go blank" if he tried to produce a design to please someone else.) Keating incorporates Roark's suggestions into the design, which is sent off to Cosmo-Slotnick.
Roark isn't getting any more commissions. The Fargo store succeeds as a building but fails as a business enterprise; it's in a declining area of town. Athelstan Beasely, clown prince of the A.G.A., writes a column making fun of Roark's failures.
In March Roark reads about Roger Enright, an eccentric oil baron who wants to build a one-of-a-kind apartment building. Roark visits Enright's office, where a functionary dismisses him after a cursory interview.
Henry Cameron, dying, asks to have Roark with him for his last days. From his deathbed, he tells Roark that Gail Wynand, avatar of "overbearing vulgarity," will be Roark's greatest foe. Cameron's speech is characterized by lots of ellipses, because that's ... how ... people ... talk ... when ... they're ... fading ... away.
Cameron dies.
Keating is still putting off the marriage with Katie. Wait till after the Cosmo-Slotnick contest winner is announced in May. If Keating wins, then they can marry.
Keating is also seeing a lot of Dominique. One day while dropping her off at her place, he asks if he can come up, and she says yes. Inside, he eventually embraces and kisses her, and she is utterly unresponsive. Yes, her secret is out: She is the ickiest thing on the planet, a frigid woman. Why, that lousy anhedonist! Holding back his disgust and remembering that she is Francon's daughter, Keating tells Dominique that he loves her and asks her to marry him. She laughs and tells him that if she ever does something awful and wants to punish herself, she just might take him up on his offer.
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