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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.comA ROUND UNIVERSE 149Always by her side at these occasions, Frank was a silent paramour,an ornamental and decorative figure. As the conversation wore into theevening, he served up coffee and pastries but contributed little to thediscussion, sometimes dozing silently in his chair. The move to NewYork had been profoundly disruptive for Frank. He made a faintheartedattempt to sell flowers to decorate building lobbies, printing up cardsthat identified him as “Francisco, the lobbyist.” But without his ownland and greenhouse, the business offered little reward and soon collapsed.Rand turned again to fiction to sort out Frank’s behavior, tellingthe Collective, “He’s on strike.” She continued to value their connection,always introducing herself to strangers as “Mrs. O’Connor.” When theirschedules diverged as she stayed up late to write, she left him friendlynotes about the apartment, always addressed to “Cubbyhole” and signed“Fluff.” Rand was elated when he suggested that one of her chapter titles,“Atlas Shrugged,” serve as the book’s title, and she proudly informed newvisitors that Frank had thought up the book’s name. Such claims didlittle to disguise Frank’s failure to emulate the active, dominant heroesRand celebrated. The Collective knew, however, that his place by Rand’sside was never to be questioned. Frank was outside the rankings, of theCollective but not in it. 41Although Rand disliked him at first, Alan Greenspan soon becameone of her favorites. For ten months he was married to Joan Mitchell,Barbara’s closest friend, and through her met Rand a few times. Oncetheir marriage was amicably annulled, the former couple grew closer asfriends, and Greenspan began joining Rand’s circle on a regular basis.Even Joan’s subsequent marriage to Allan Blumenthal, Nathan’s cousin,did little to disturb Greenspan or discourage his interest in Rand’sgroup. At early meetings he was quiet and somber, earning the nickname“the Undertaker” from Rand. Heavily influenced by logical positivism,Greenspan was unwilling to accept any absolutes. He becamelegendary for his confession that he might not actually exist—it couldn’tbe proved. Hearing this, Rand pounced: “And by the way, who is makingthat statement?” To Greenspan it was a deep exchange that shook hisrelativist beliefs to the core.By many accounts Rand excelled at the kind of verbal combat thatimpressed Greenspan. Hiram Haydn, an editor at Bobbs-Merrill andlater Random House, marveled at Rand’s ability to conquer sophisticated