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A ROUND UNIVERSE 155
conversations with fellow Collective members whom he deemed insuffi
ciently independent. His credentials in the area of counseling psychology
were slim, to say the least; he had only an undergraduate degree.
But with Rand’s system behind him, Branden felt qualifi ed to promote
himself as an expert. Rand had always enjoyed talking to people about
their personal problems, urging them to apply rationality to any problem
in life. Now Branden picked up this habit, his authority buttressed
by Rand’s obvious respect for him. In tense therapy sessions, during
which he paced the room “like a caged tiger,” as one patient remembered,
Branden demanded that members of the Collective check their
premises and root out all traces of irrationality from their thinking. 52
Rand was delighted by Branden’s psychological innovations. She began
to openly acknowledge him as her teacher as well as her student, her intellectual
heir who would carry her work forward. Even though her novels
dwelled at length on the internal motivations and confl icts of characters,
she had always dismissed psychology as “that sewer.” 53 Now she could
learn about the fi eld without actually reading Freud, or the other psychologists
whom she freely castigated. Armed with Branden’s theories
she became even more confi dent in her judgments about other people.
Still fascinated by his mentor, Branden listened with rapt attention to
her memories of the past, her tales of struggle, her frustrations with the
world. He offered her what her passive, withdrawn husband could not:
both intellectual stimulation and emotional support. Rand began to talk
of him as her reward, the payoff for all she had gone through.
Although it started innocently enough, there had always been a current
of fl irtation between the two. Rand made no secret of her esteem
for Nathan, openly identifying him as a genius. His face, she said, was
her kind of face. The Brandens’ marriage only briefl y papered over the
growing attraction between Ayn and Nathan. The subtext of their relationship
spilled into the open during a long car ride to Canada in the
fall of 1954. The two couples and another friend had taken a road trip to
visit Barbara’s family. On the ride home Barbara watched her husband
and Rand holding hands and nuzzling in the backseat of the car. Sick
with jealousy and anger, she confronted him afterward. Nathan denied
everything. He and Rand had a special friendship, nothing more. His
sentiment was genuine. Nathan worshipped Rand, but it was Barbara he
had chosen, or so he consciously believed.
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