The Fountainhead Page #6

It is I who have done it.

- Don't you want to know my motive?

- No.

I'm fighting you, and I shall fight you

in every way I can.

- You're free to do what you please.

- Mr. Roark, we're alone here.

Why don't you tell me what you think of me

in any words you wish?

But I don't think of you.

It's great, Mr. Roark. It's wonderful.

Ever since I saw the Enright House,

I knew you were the man I wanted.

But I was afraid you wouldn't do

an unimportant gas station...

...for me after doing

skyscrapers.

No building is unimportant.

I'll build for any man who wants me.

Anywhere, so long as I build my way.

Your career has been as unprecedented

as your buildings.

I never knew anybody to survive

one of the Banner's smear campaigns.

Everything was against you.

How'd you break through?

- What'd you think of the Banner's campaign?

- It was a vicious appeal to fools.

Haven't you answered

your own question?

But you had years torn out of your life,

wasted by the Banner.

No. All these years, I've found some one

man who wanted my work...

...one man who saw through his own eyes

and thought with his own brain.

Such men may be rare, they may be

unknown, but they move the world.

- How did you look for them?

- I didn't. They called for me.

Any man who calls for me

is my kind of man.

This is probably something very big.

I made an appointment for you,

- Whose office?

- He telephoned half an hour ago.

Mr. Gail Wynand.

- I don't think you'll want to work for me.

- Why?

You ought to feel contempt for me

if you've seen the kind of buildings I put up.

- You're honest, aren't you?

- Thank you.

That's the first time

anyone said that about me...

...and it's one of the few times

when I am.

What I want you to build

is not for the public. It's for me.

- What is it?

- My home...

A country house

just for my wife and me.

Did Mrs. Wynand choose me for the job?

No, Mrs. Wynand doesn't know anything

about this. It's my own project.

I've looked at buildings all over the country.

Every time I saw one that I liked...

...and asked who designed it,

the answer was always Howard Roark.

I want you to know that I have

very little respect for anything on earth.

The only thing I worship,

and I've seen so little of it in life...

...is man's ability to produce work

such as yours.

I believe you.

Why do you say that as if it hurt you?

It doesn't.

Don't hold them against me,

the things I've built.

Those worthless commercial structures

and papers like the Banner made it possible...

...for me to have a house by you.

They're the means, you're the end.

Don't apologize for your past.

It isn't necessary.

You do have courage, don't you?

No one else would dare

say that to me.

But you're right. I was apologizing.

You see, I need you.

That house means a great deal to me,

and you're the only one who can design it.

What kind of a house do you want?

Far from the city. I bought the land.

A place in Connecticut, 500 acres.

What kind of a house?

The cost, whatever you need.

The appearance, whatever you wish.

The purpose...

You see, I want this house because

I'm very desperately in love with my wife.

What's the matter?

You think that's irrelevant?

No. Go on.

I can't stand to see my wife

among other people.

It's not jealousy.

It's much more and much worse.

I can't share her

with anyone or anything.

I want a house

that will be only mine and hers.

Think of it as you would think

of a fortress...

...and of a temple.

A temple

to Dominique Wynand.

I want you to meet her

before you design it.

I've met Mrs. Wynand some years ago.

- You have? Then you understand.

- I do.

Start work at once.

Drop anything else you're doing.

I'll pay whatever...

Forgive me.

Too much association

with bad architects.

I haven't asked you

whether you wanna do it.

Yes. I'll do it.

- What's the matter, Gail?

- Good evening, dear. Why?

- You look as if you felt happy.

- I feel as if I were young...

...as I did when I was starting and

believed the road ahead was clean...

...and honesty was possible.

- You want it to be possible?

- Yes. I never realized...

...how much I wanted to find it.

Dominique, you look

very beautiful tonight.

No. That's not what

I wanted to say. It's this:

I feel for the first time

that I have a right to you.

- You thought you hadn't?

- No, and that I'd never earn it.

But now I believe nothing

will take you away from me...

Nothing and no one.

- I don't love you, Gail.

- I know it...

...but you'd never loved anyone else.

- What makes you think so?

- It wouldn't be like you.

You'd never surrender to anyone,

but you don't hate me any longer.

No. I've found we have

a great deal in common, you and I.

We both had strength,

but not courage.

We've committed

the same kind of treason some way.

If I have, I feel as if

I've been forgiven tonight.

- Why?

- I don't know.

You've always wanted

to escape from the world.

Would you like to live in the

country, away from everything...

...away from the Banner?

- Yes. Yes, I would.

I'm having a house designed for us.

It will be my greatest gift to you.

If I've been guilty in my life,

this house will vindicate me.

- Who is designing it?

- The only man of genius I ever met.

His name is Howard Roark.

Gail.

Do you happen to remember

why I resigned from the Banner?

It was because of a campaign...

...against the Enright House.

Just one of the Banner's

smear campaigns!

Not important enough

to remember, was it, Gail?

You staged so many of them.

You were away on your yacht.

He was just some architect

whom you threw to the mob.

It built circulation. Didn't it, Gail?

When I spoke to him,

he didn't remind me of it.

Why should he?

He knows he's won.

He could afford to be generous.

I don't accept generosity.

I never thought

he could win against you, but he has.

Maybe we're wrong

about the world, you and I.

He's the one who's earned

the right to despise us.

Has he? That's a right

I'll never grant to anyone on earth.

There are no men of integrity, are there?

Well, you've met one.

There aren't.

He's not any better than the rest of us.

- What if he is?

- lf he were, I'd break him.

Nobody can break him.

I'll find out.

Why did you accept this commission?

Don't you hate me?

No. Why should I?

- Do you want me to speak of it first?

- Of what?

The Enright House.

You had forgotten that, hadn't you?

Let it remain forgotten.

I know what the Banner has done to you,

but I stand by every word...

...in the Banner.

- I haven't asked you to retract it.

Mr. Roark, I was away

at the time of that campaign...

...but my editor was doing

what I had taught him.

Had I been in town,

I'd have done the same.

- That was your privilege.

- You don't believe I would have done it.

- No.

- I haven't asked you...

...for compliments or for pity.

Sit down.

I wish to sign a contract

to make you sole architect...

...for all the future buildings I may erect.

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