Atlas Shrugged

particular problem for myself."
He chuckled, when he saw the slow movement of her hand across her eyes and the line of bitterness in
the set of her mouth, as if she were trying to wipe out the things against which she had fought such an
exhausting, cheerless battle.
"This is only a rough scheme," he said, "but I believe you see what can be done?"
"I can't tell you all that I see, Hank."
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 "Don't bother. I know it."
"You're saving Taggart Transcontinental for the second time."
"You used to be a better psychologist than that."
"What do you mean?"
"Why should I give a damn about saving Taggart Transcontinental?
Don't you know that I want to have a bridge of Rearden Metal to show the country?"
"Yes, Hank. I know it"
"There are too many people yelping that rails of Rearden Metal are unsafe. So I thought I'd give them
something real to yelp about. Let them see a bridge of Rearden Metal."
She looked at him and laughed aloud in simple delight.
"Now what's that?" he asked.
"Hank, I don't know anyone, not anyone in the world, who'd think of such an answer to people, in such
circumstances—except you."
"What about you? Would you want to make the answer with me and face the same screaming?"
"You knew I would."
"Yes. I knew it."
He glanced at her, his eyes narrowed; he did not laugh as she had, but the glance was an equivalent.
She remembered suddenly their last meeting, at the party. The memory seemed incredible. Their ease
with each other—the strange, light-headed feeling, which included the knowledge that it was the only
sense of ease either of them found anywhere—made the thought of hostility impossible. Yet she knew
that the party had taken place; he acted as if it had not.
They walked to the edge of the canyon. Together, they looked at the dark drop, at the rise of rock
beyond it, at the sun high on the derricks of Wyatt Oil. She stood, her feet apart on the frozen stones,
braced firmly against the wind. She could feel, without touching it, the line of his chest behind her
shoulder. The wind beat her coat against his legs.
"Hank, do you think we can build it in time? There are only six months left."
"Sure. It will take less time and labor than any other type of bridge.
Let me have my engineers work out the basic scheme and submit it to you. No obligation on your part.
Just take a look at it and see for yourself whether you'll be able to afford it. You will. Then you can let
your college boys work out the details."
"What about the Metal?"