The most important event in this chapter is the meeting of Hank Rearden and Francisco d'Anconia. Francisco is a squandering playboy whom Rearden — a man who has risen from poverty by means of his own backbreaking effort — despises. Rearden wants to completely avoid Francisco, but the dignity of Francisco's manner and the startling truth of his words attract Hank despite his resistance. Francisco's message to Rearden is deceptively simple: It's important for Rearden to announce the egoistic basis of his work and his life to his family and the world. Rearden is egoistic regarding his work because he pursues his values, his loves, and his happiness. He would never sacrifice what is dearest to him (his mills) to his family or to society. However, Rearden isn't egoistic regarding his personal life. He permits a gaggle of vicious moochers to sponge off of him, and he tolerates their moral condemnation. He accepts guilt as payment for his extraordinary achievements. His family abuses him relentlessly for his greatest virtue — his enormous productivity — and he allows their abuse. He gets no happiness or value from his family — only suffering. Because he accepts the morality of self-sacrifice, Rearden willingly carries these parasites on his back. Francisco warns that Rearden must understand and announce to his mooching family that he has no moral obligation to support them — that he does so only out of generosity and kindness, which deserves appreciation and thanks.
Francisco indicates that Rearden is virtuous and a moral paragon because of his industriousness, not in spite of it. Rearden must understand his own greatness. He must embrace a joyous pride in his life-giving achievements and reject any guilt that his family asks him to feel. Francisco offers Rearden the beginnings of validation and a moral sanction that Rearden doesn't yet fully realize he needs. Rearden doesn't even have the words yet to define his situation, but somehow he knows that he needs the sanction that Francisco offers.
