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After enjoying success in getting her president-brother to agree to using the new Rearden metal for the troubled Rio Norte Line, Dagny now looks to top off her day by getting Owen Kellogg to accept a big promotion and to work the troubled Ohio Division, but she is in for a rude surprise. He has no interest in it. In fact, he is quitting altogether.
_ _ _
“It’s the post of Superintendent of the Ohio Division. It’s yours, if you want it.”
His face showed no reaction, as if the words had no more significance for him than for a savage who had never heard of railroads.
[...]
“Perhaps I am being unfair by coming here to tell you that I am quitting, Miss Taggart. I know that you asked me to tell you because you wanted to have a chance to make me a counter-offer. So if I came, it looks as if I’m open to a deal. But I’m not. I came only because I … I wanted to keep my word to you.”
That one break in his voice was like a sudden flash that told her how much her interest and her request had meant to him; and that his decision had not been an easy one to make.
“Kellogg, is there nothing I can offer you?” she asked.
“Nothing, Miss Taggart. Nothing on earth.”
He turned to go. For the first time in her life, she felt helpless and beaten.
“Why?” she asked, not addressing him.
He stopped. He shrugged and smiled - he was alive for a moment and it was the strangest smile she had ever seen: it held secret amusement, and heartbreak, and an infinite bitterness. He answered:
“Who is John Galt?”
-- “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand
_ _ _
The mystery deepens. That composer, Richard Halley, seems to have disappeared, and now it looks like this capable young man, Owen Kellogg, is just going to drop out. The best people seem to be disappearing, and this is happening while the country is falling apart! What is happening? And what is this John Galt business? Does he have something to do with all of this? Who the hell is John Galt?
_ _ _
“It’s the post of Superintendent of the Ohio Division. It’s yours, if you want it.”
His face showed no reaction, as if the words had no more significance for him than for a savage who had never heard of railroads.
[...]
“Perhaps I am being unfair by coming here to tell you that I am quitting, Miss Taggart. I know that you asked me to tell you because you wanted to have a chance to make me a counter-offer. So if I came, it looks as if I’m open to a deal. But I’m not. I came only because I … I wanted to keep my word to you.”
That one break in his voice was like a sudden flash that told her how much her interest and her request had meant to him; and that his decision had not been an easy one to make.
“Kellogg, is there nothing I can offer you?” she asked.
“Nothing, Miss Taggart. Nothing on earth.”
He turned to go. For the first time in her life, she felt helpless and beaten.
“Why?” she asked, not addressing him.
He stopped. He shrugged and smiled - he was alive for a moment and it was the strangest smile she had ever seen: it held secret amusement, and heartbreak, and an infinite bitterness. He answered:
“Who is John Galt?”
-- “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand
_ _ _
The mystery deepens. That composer, Richard Halley, seems to have disappeared, and now it looks like this capable young man, Owen Kellogg, is just going to drop out. The best people seem to be disappearing, and this is happening while the country is falling apart! What is happening? And what is this John Galt business? Does he have something to do with all of this? Who the hell is John Galt?
