The board of directors of The Banner call a meeting to discuss what to do; they tell Gail to give everyone but Toohey back their jobs and change the Banner's position on Cortlandt. Feeling as he did when he almost pulled the trigger to end his life, he agrees.
Wynand has given control of The Banner to Alvah until he returns.
He wanders the New York City streets, contemplating the fact that every anonymous faceless person has been his master; he has sold Howard Roark for the price of a newspaper. He sees that tomorrow's Banner has come out; he reads the front page editorial, which renounces the Banner's position on Roark and condemns him along with the public. He wanders through Hell's Kitchen and realizes that he never really escaped from there; he doesn't run things, he just adds to the things that are being run by the people. He doesn't even have an excuse, because he was not born to be a second hander.
