The Fountainhead: Peter Keating: 9

Roark has a job!

John Erik Snyte (what a great name!) has four other designers, nicknamed "Classic," "Gothic," "Renaissance," and "Miscellaneous" for their tendencies, and after looking at Roark's sketches, he now has a "Modernistic." For each prospect, he has the five designers produce a sketch and chooses the one most suitable to the job. Snyte then takes the winning design, modifies it with elements of the other four, and presents the result to the prospect. Under Snyte, Roark won't get to see an unaltered design of his own come to fruition, but the job will give him valuable experience solving design problems.

The building-trades unions are on strike, and one Francon & Heyer job being held up is a hotel owned indirectly by Gail Wynand. The Wynand papers are against the strike. Francon is on edge; in all fairness, Wynand can't blame his firm for the construction delay, but will Wynand be fair?

To unwind from the tension at the office, Keating plans an evening with Katie Halsey, but she isn't home. He finds her at a union rally, where she is handing out pamphlets as a gesture of solidarity with her uncle, Ellsworth Toohey, who supports the unions despite being a columnist for the Wynand chain. Peter and Katie listen to a speech by Austen Heller, an Oxford graduate and all-around smart guy who writes for the Chronicle, an independent paper. Heller speechifies about maximizing individual freedom by having as little law as possible; the larger the State, the more unethical it is. He also takes a dig at Wynand.

(Hmm, sounds like this Austen Heller may be a mouthpiece for the Rand philosophy of individualism über alles. We'll see where this goes.)

Then Ellsworth Toohey himself steps to the microphone, to uproarious applause. He calls on the workers to unite. "Let us organize, my brothers." Our two listeners wander off in the middle of the speech, which makes little sense, but which gives them some time together so Katie can say, "I want to be with you always."

The rumor around town is that on the day after the rally, Wynand gave Toohey a raise. Unexpected! The tycoon plays a deep game.

Eventually the strike is settled, and Francon regains his cheerful mood. One day Keating sees a young woman at the firm, headed toward Francon's office. She is slender and strikingly beautiful, with "an air of cold serenity and an exquisitely vicious mouth." She is Dominique Francon, the boss's daughter, and in her column in the Banner she has just published a slashing criticism of a home built by Francon & Heyer (and designed by Keating). Keating overhears father and daughter arguing. Smitten, he looks forward to meeting the young woman, even though he suspects it might be better if they didn't become acquainted. Guard your soul, Peter Keating!