The Fountainhead: Ellsworth M. Toohey: 10

In June 1929 the Enright House opens, and Howard Roark begins to get more business. He has already gotten a contract to build the Norris house in the country, and Anthony Cord selected Roark in May to build a fifty-story office tower in Manhattan. Roark's office has expanded to four rooms, and he has a loyal staff.

Dominique has developed the habit of going in walks in the city, particularly walks to Roark's buildings. Late one night she rides the Staten Island ferry out and contemplates the city. Then she takes a long walk and arrives at Roark's door at 4:30am. She just wants to be with him. No boom boom this time. They start spending weekends together in the country. They talk about their growing mutual ownership of one another.

A corporation wants to build a luxury hotel, the Aquitania, on Central Park South. In early June, one of the board members, Kent Lansing, sets his sights on Roark. Roark: I don't do well with groups; no board will ever hire me. Lansing: Groups of men are like vacuums. I can make them do what I want. Roark: I like you. Why stick your neck out for me? Lansing: Because you will build a great building, and that's what I want.

Thanks to Lansing's persistence, at the end of July Roark gets the commission.

Dominique visits Toohey. She tells him she tried to stop the Aquitania job from going to Roark, but she's happy he got it.

Toohey has a friend, Hopton Stoddard, an heir and brilliant investor, who is about to take an extended trip abroad. Stoddard is concerned about the afterlife—his own afterlife. He isn't sure which religion is the right one, so he proposes to bribe his way into heaven: He wants to build the Stoddard Temple of the Human Spirit, an interdenominational thumbs-up to whatever gods might be paying attention.

Toohey hatches an evil plan. He calls Stoddard one day with this idea: The man to build your temple is Howard Roark. You must give him complete freedom to build as he sees fit. He will want to decline the job—he is an atheist. You say to him that from his buildings, you can tell that he is a deeply religious man. Don't bother looking at any of his drawings, and don't sign a contract before you go on your trip; you can pay Roark his fee when you return. It should be sufficient to make some financial arrangements with your bank before you go. Now, you'll want publicity for your Temple, so keep the construction site hidden behind fences, and don't let the press see anything before the grand unveiling. Oh, and whatever you do, don't let Roark know I suggested this. If it gets out that I steered a big commission to Roark, all my other architect friends will be jealous. But if you can get Roark to take this job ... it's just a matter of time, Pinky, before we take over the world!!! Wait, did I say that out loud?

So Stoddard goes to Roark and lays it out just like Toohey suggested. Roark is very suspicious—this guy Stoddard gives him the willies. But "deep down you're a very religious man" strikes home. Roark agrees to build the Temple.

Bwa-ha-ha!!!