Ellsworth Toohey wrote in his column: Mr. Roark pulled a Phryne in court and didn’t get away with it. We never believed that story in the first place.

Roark was instructed to pay the costs of the temple’s alterations. He said that he would not appeal the case. Hopton Stoddard announced that the temple would be remodeled into Hopton Stoddard Home for Subnormal Children.

On the day after the end of the trail Alvah Scarret gasped when he glanced at the proofs of “your House” delivered to his desk: the column contained most of Dominique’s testimony in court. Her testimony has been quoted in the newspaper accounts of the case, but only in harmless excerpts. Alvah Scarret hurried to Dominique’s office.

Darling, darling, darling,” he said,” We can’t print that.”

She looked at him blankly and said nothing.

“Dominique, sweetheart, be reasonable. Quite apart from some of the language you use and some of your utterly unprintable ideas, you know very well the stand this paper taken on the case. You know the campaign we’ve conducted. You’ve read my editorial this morning- ‘A Victory for Decency.’ We can’t have one writer running against our whole policy.”

“You’ll have to print it.”

“But, sweetheart…”

“Or I’ll have to quit.”

“Oh, go on, go on, go on, and don’t be silly. Now don’t get ridiculous. You know better than that. We can’t …”

“You’ll have to choose, Alvah.”

Scarret knew that he would get hell from Gail Wynand if he printed the thing, and might get hell if he lost Dominique Francon whose column was popular. Wynand had not returned from his cruise. Scarret cabled him in Bali, explaining the situation.

Within a few hours Scarret received an answer. It was in Wynand’s private code. Translated it read: FIRE THE BITCH. G.W.

Scarret stared at the cable, crushed. It was an order that allowed no alternative, even if Dominique surrendered. He hoped she would resign. He could not face the thought of having to fire her.

Through an office boy whom he had recommended for the job, Toohey obtained the decoded copy of Wynand’s cable. He put it in his pocket and went to Dominique’s office. He had not seen her since the trail. He found her engaged in emptying the drawers of her desk.

“Hello,” he said curtly. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting to hear from Alvah Scarret.”

“Meaning?”

“Waiting to hear whether I’ll have to resign.”

“Feel like talking about the trail?”

“No.’’

“I do. I think I owe you the country of admitting that you’ve done what no one has ever done before: you proved me wrong.” He spoke coldly; his face looked flat; his eyes had no trace of kindness. “I had not expected you to do what you did on the stand. It was a scurvy trick. Though up to your usual standard. T simply miscalculated the direction of your malice. However, you did have the good sense to admit that your act was futile. Of course, you made your point. And mine. As a token of appreciation, I have a present for you.”

He laid the cable on her desk.

She read it and stood holding it in her hand.

“You can’t even resign, my dear,” he said. “You can’t make that sacrifice to your pearl-casting hero. Remembering that you attach such great importance to not being beaten except by your own hand, I thought you would enjoy this.”

She folded the cable and slipped it into her purse.

“Thank you, Ellsworth.”

“If you’re going to fight me, my dear, it will take more than speeches.

“Haven’t I always?”

“Yes. Yes, of course you have. Quite right. You’re correcting me again. You have always fought me- and the only time you broke down and screamed for mercy was on that witness- stand.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s where I miscalculated.”

“Yes.”

He bowed formally and left the room.

She made a parcel of the things she wanted to take home. Then she wants to scarret’s office. She showed him the cable in her hand, but she did not give it to him.

“Okay, Alvah,” she said.

“Dominique, I couldn’t help it, I couldn’t help it, it was- how the hell did you get that?”

“It’s all right, Alvah. No, I won’t give it back in her bag. “Mail me my cheque and anything else that has to be discussed.”

“You… you were going to resign anyway, weren’t you?”

“Yes, I was. But I like it better- being fired.”

“Dominique, if you knew how awful I feel about it. I can’t believe it. I simply can’t believe it.”

“So you people made a martyr out of me, after all. And that is the one thing I’ve tried all my life not to be. It’s so graceless, being a martyr. It’s honoring your adversaries too much. But I’ll tell you this, Alvah- I’ll tell it to you, because I couldn’t find a less appropriate person to hear it: nothing that you do to me- or him- will be worse than what I’ll do myself. If you think I can’t take the Stoddard Temple, wait till you see what I can take.”

On an evening three days after the trial Ellsworth Toohey sat in his room, listening to the radio.