Dagny looks at the list of the great Colorado industrialists who have vanished and suspects the existence of a destroyer. She starts to believe that someone is systematically removing the country’s most productive minds. She can only shake her head in despair at the collapse of industry in Colorado. Rearden, meanwhile, secretly sells a larger amount of Rearden Metal than is legally permitted to Ken Danagger.
James Taggart marries the innocent shop girl Cherryl Brooks. Because his wife requests that he do so and he feels obligated to respect her wishes, Rearden attends the wedding. Francisco d’Anconia arrives and tells Taggart that he’s grateful for the political deal that Taggart and his socialist colleagues brokered months ago that is putting American producers of copper out of business. The deal makes d’Anconia Copper (in which Jim and his friends hold a large amount of stock) virtually the sole copper producer on earth.
When someone makes a remark claiming that Francisco is a depraved product of money, Francisco responds with a brilliant speech that praises the virtue of wealth. Rearden is drawn to Francisco and the liberating power of his ideas, but he expresses contempt for the way in which Francisco has profited from the legal destruction of his competitors. Francisco tells Rearden of the fires and cave-ins that, though causing no injuries, will imminently wipe out a part of d’Anconia Copper. Francisco also announces his company’s problems to the entire room, causing panic for James Taggart and the other corrupt investors who now realize that they’ve lost their money.
