«No, he won’t», said Scarlett.
«He can’t take you to Tara!» said Melly. «This is your home now. What will we do without you?»
Soon Gerald arrived.
Melanie and Pittypat had gone to sleep, but Scarlett lay awake in the warm darkness. To leave Atlanta when life had just begun again! She heard some noise. Gerald was coming home. He was drunk and singing songs.
Someone was with him. She heard Gerald’s voice, «Now I’ll sing you another song. You must know it, lad. I’ll teach it to you».
«I’ll learn it», replied his companion. «But not now, Mr. O’Hara».
«I suppose I must go down», thought Scarlett. «After all he’s my father».
She unlocked the door and saw Rhett Butler. He was supporting her small father.
«Your father, I believe?» said Captain Butler.
«Bring him in», she said shortly. «Here. Now lay him down».
«I will be seeing you Sunday at dinner», he said and went out.
At five-thirty Gerald was awake. He looked up furtively as she entered. He groaned.
«Morning!»
«It’s a fine way you’ve acted, Pa», she began in a furious whisper.
«I remember nothing».
«Oh», moaned Gerald. «It happened after the game. That Butler bragged that he was the best poker player in…»
«How much did you lose?»
«Five hundred dollars», said Gerald.
«What will Mother say when she hears?»
«You won’t tell your mother a word, will you?»
Scarlett said nothing.
«Please, don’t», pleaded Gerald.
«I won’t», said Scarlett, «if you let me stay here and if you tell Mother that it was nothing but a lot of gossip from old cats».
Gerald looked mournfully at his daughter.
«It’s blackmail. Anyway, we’ll forget all that. And do you think Miss Pittypat has any brandy in the house?»
Chapter IX
The war went on. Confederate money dropped alarmingly and the price of food and clothing rose accordingly. The Yankee blockade about the Confederate ports tightened, and luxuries such as tea, coffee, silks, whalebone stays, fashion magazines and books were scarce and dear. The hospitals were worrying about the scarcity of quinine, calomel, opium, chloroform and iodine. Linen and cotton bandages were precious, and ladies who nursed at the hospitals brought home baskets of bloody strips, They washed and ironed and returned them.
But Scarlett was happy to be in the world again. She did not care if the war lasted forever. The helpless wounded succumbed to her charms without a struggle. They fell in love easily.
Scarlett was happy. War and marriage and childbirth had passed over her and she was unchanged. She had a child but she almost forgot him. She went to parties, danced, went riding with soldiers, flirted. Sometimes Scarlett went to Tara. These visits were disappointing.
Though Scarlett always went home to Tara with a happy heart, she was never sorry to return. Rhett Butler called frequently at Aunt Pittypat’s house. Rhett called whenever he was in town, escorting her to danceables and bazaars and waiting outside the hospital to drive her home. But he annoyed her frequently.
He was in his mid-thirties, older than any beau she had ever had, and she was as helpless as a child to control and handle him. He returned to Atlanta, and presented Scarlett, with overdone gallantry, a box of bonbons. Or claimed her at a dance, and she was usually amused.
Scarlett felt that he had no respect for any woman, unless perhaps for Melanie.
«I don’t see why you’re so much nicer to her than to me», said Scarlett petulantly. «I’m much prettier than she is».
«If I am ‘nicer’ to Mrs. Wilkes, it is because she deserves it. She is sincere unselfish».
One day Melanie said,
«Ashley writes me that we should not fight the Yankees. And that we are betrayed into it by statesmen and orators. He says nothing this war was just misery and dirt. He meant exactly what Captain Butler meant, only he didn’t say it in a rude way. And I don’t know what to think».
Scarlett knew that Rhett was not patriotic and she did not care. The little presents he brought her from Nassau were what mattered most to her.
One bright summer morning he appeared with a brightly trimmed hatbox in his hand and, when Scarlett was alone in the house, he opened it. There was a very nice bonnet in it!
«Put it on», said Rhett, smiling.
She flew across the room to the mirror and plopped it on her head.
«How do I look?» she cried.
«Oh, Rhett, whose bonnet is it? I’ll buy it».
«It’s your bonnet», he said.
«How much is it?» she asked suddenly.
«About two thousand dollars. It’s a gift».
She laughed.
«You are a clever, black-hearted wretch, Rhett Butler, and you know very well this bonnet’s too pretty to be refused. But Rhett, you mustn’t bring me anything else so expensive. It’s awfully kind of you, but I really can’t accept anything else».
«Indeed? Well, I shall bring you presents so long as it pleases me. And I warn you that I am not kind. I never do anything without reason».
«And what do you expect to get from me?»
«Guess».
«Well, if you think I’ll marry you to pay for the bonnet, I won’t», she said.
«Madam, you flatter yourself, I do not want to marry you or anyone else. I am not a marrying man».
«Indeed!» she cried. «I don’t even intend to kiss you, either».
«Oh, Scarlett, you are so young», he said. «And I shall kiss you, as you expect it», and leaning down carelessly, his mustache just grazed her cheek.
She burst into laughter.
The next day, Melanie ran in, her face was flushed and frightened. There were tears on her cheeks.
«Oh, Scarlett!» she cried. «I was talking to that that woman with red hair, named Belle Watling!»
Belle Watling was the most notorious woman in town. Many prostitutes had come into Atlanta, following the soldiers, but Belle stood out above the rest.
«What did she want?»
«I was walking home. And when I went by the Emersons’ yard, there she was, behind the hedge! She had some money and she wanted me to take it and use it for the hospital. I was so upset and anxious to get away, I just said: ‘Oh, yes, indeed, how sweet of you’ or something idiotic, and she smiled and said: ‘That’s right Christian of you’ and shoved this dirty handkerchief into my hand».
Melanie held out a handkerchief, in which some coins were knotted.
«Let’s see how much money is in here. It feels heavy», said Scarlett.
She untied the knot and a handful of gold coins rolled out on the bed.
«Scarlett, there’s fifty dollars here! And in gold!» cried Melanie.
But Scarlett was not listening. She was looking at the dirty handkerchief. There was a monogram in the corner in which were the initials «R. K. B». In her top drawer was a handkerchief just like this, one that Rhett Butler had given her only yesterday to wrap about the stems of wild flowers. She had planned to return it to him.
So Rhett came to that Watling and gave her money. Oh, men were so vile, and Rhett Butler was the worst of them all! She crumbled the handkerchief in her hand, and went down the stairs to the kitchen. As she passed the stove, she shoved the handkerchief into the flames.
Chapter X
Scarlett, Melanie and Miss Pittypat sat in front of the Daily Examiner office in the carriage. They wanted to learn the first news of Ashley. Somewhere Ashley was fighting, perhaps dying, and the newspaper office was the only place where she could learn the truth.
The first casualty lists[15] were posted.
«Read it», whispered Melly. Scarlett read and her voice shook.
Oh, how long the list was! Three «Tarleton» names on that list. «Tarleton Brenton, Lieutenant; Tarleton Stuart, Corporal; Tarleton Thomas, private». And Boyd was buried somewhere in Virginia. All the Tarleton boys gone.
Sxarlett could not read any more. The boys with whom she had grown up, danced, flirted, kissed were on that list.
As the Christmas season approached, Ashley came home on furlough. Scarlett was frightened. Her emotions were sharpened by her long dreams of him. This Ashley Wilkes in his faded, patched uniform was a different man from that boy she had loved before the war. He stood in his old uniform, his pistol in its holster, Major Ashley Wilkes. Her same handsome Ashley, yet so very different.