The Fountainhead: Part 2: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

Meanwhile, Keating is waiting for Dominique at his apartment. He has “made himself forget [Catherine] and everything she implied.” He has told his mother about his marriage to Dominique, and she is delighted. Though he has forbidden her to tell anyone else, he knows she has already made a few calls, and their telephone has been ringing constantly with messages of congratulations. He feels like the whole city is celebrating while he is “cold and lost and horrified.”

Dominique finally arrives at noon, “smiling correctly.” Looking at her, Keating “relive[s] all the telephone calls and [feels] the triumph to which they entitled him.” He tells Dominique “this is like a dream come true.” Mrs. Keating is delighted that Dominique is so beautiful. 

Keating goes to the office, glad to get away from home, and he is greeted by shouts and cheers. He is happy to see Guy Francon’s pleased face, and Francon tells him the whole firm will now be Keating’s since Francon is tired of working and has been waiting for a chance to retire. Francon worries that Keating is not happy with all that he is leaving him, and Keating is angry and frightened that, despite all he has achieved, Francon is still not sure that his legacy is enough.

That evening, Francon has dinner at Keating’s apartment, and when he is alone with Dominique he tells her he knows she must be “terribly unhappy.” Dominique laughs and denies it. They have a lot of guests who come to offer their congratulations, and “Dominique behave[s] exquisitely.” After everyone leaves, Dominique tells Keating they should “get it over with,” and they have sex. Dominique’s “unmoving body” doesn’t respond, “even in revulsion,” and Keating feels defeated. 

A few days later, Toohey comes to dinner. Keating says he is happy to have “[his] wife and [his] best friend” at the same table, and that he’d somehow thought they didn’t like each other and is happy to see that that is untrue. When Dominique and Toohey are alone, Toohey says he knows that Dominique has been in love with Roark but that Roark ignores her, which is why she wants to destroy him. She is obviously “the woman scorned,” he says. Dominique says that she had overestimated Toohey, and Toohey is puzzled by what she means.

The Stoddard Temple is rebuilt into a “Home for Subnormal Children” by a group of architects that Toohey chose: Keating, Gordon L. Prescott, John Erik Snyte, and Gus Webb. They use a mishmash of traditional styles to build it. The A.G.A. realizes that Toohey has a lot of clout in the field of architecture and instead of fighting this, they decide to give a luncheon in his honor. Catherine Halsey moves into the home and is put in charge of the children’s occupational therapy. The statue Mallory made of Dominique is sold to an unknown buyer—Ellsworth Toohey.

The Depression has affected the building trade, and Roark has no work once again. He takes whatever projects come his way, no matter how small. One night, he goes over to see the reconstructed Stoddard Temple and bumps into Toohey there. Toohey wants to know what Roark thinks of him, and he tells Roark he can be honest since no one is around to hear them. Roark says, “But I don’t think of you.”