Hank, Dagny, Francisco and Lillian's encounter

                During this reading, I find it really interesting the way in which Rand portrays Hank and Dagny’s view on their affair. One would think that Dagny should be somewhat jealous that Hank shows up to Jim’s marriage with Lillian. Of course Dagny can’t show any signs of anger or envy in order to keep her relationship a secret, but it would be normal for her to be bothered by the fact that the man she loves is with another woman. Yet, she states that she feels nothing towards it. She claims that she knew what she was getting herself into, she knew that Hank was married and decided to get involved either way. She analyzed all her options and weighed the consequences against the pros, as any good businessman would do about any situation. Hank on the other hand can’t help but feel discomfort. He openly demonstrates that he wants nothing to do with Lillian and wants to devote all his love and attention to Dagny. He feels guilty and ashamed that he couldn’t be in public with her, he thought he was hurting Dagny when in reality he was the one suffering, wishing he had another woman in his arms. What I don’t understand about all this is Lillian’s intentions in taking Hank to the marriage. Lillian speaks to Jim, secretly planning something. It is obvious that she feels lonely, but I don’t believe that’s her real motive for tricking Hank.

                Francisco D’anconia’s appearance, who in the public’s eyes is just a “party hound”, makes the whole Hank and Dagny situation awkward. Hank still doesn’t know that Francisco was Dagny’s first man, but Hank was the only man happy to see Francisco. Both of them also seem to be hiding something. It seems as if they have worked on some sort of business deal or idea that Rand hasn’t revealed yet. Not to mention, Francisco’s dispute with the woman was pretty entertaining. I agree with Francisco; money doesn’t make a man evil, a man uses his money for evil. In my opinion, most the arguments he used against the woman were true. Nevertheless, I didn’t comprehend what he meant when he told Reardan that he did that for him. I don’t know what Francisco was trying to offer Rearden with his speech.