Keating meets his old girlfriend, Catherine Halsey. She tells him that her uncle is Ellsworth Toohey, a well-known writer for a Wynand newspaper, named the "Banner". Even though Keating wants to meet Toohey, he wants to wait until he is more successful and famous. Then he can impress Toohey, who is an architecture expert, in the hopes of a new job with even more wealthy income.