Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3

«I’ll help you. I’ll explain how you did it for the hospital. Surely he’ll understand», said Melly.

«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?»