LITMIR.BIZ

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realize it. And she’s so gentle and timid. Scarlett, will you promise?»

      «Oh, yes!» she cried, for at that moment. «Ashley, Ashley! I can’t let you go away!»

      «Scarlett! Scarlett! You are so fine and strong and good».

      «Oh, Ashley», she whispered happily, thrilling at his words and his touch on her face. «Nobody else but you ever…»

      «I think that perhaps I know you better than most people and that I can see beautiful things in you that others can’t notice».

      Where were the magic three words? But they did not come.

      She cried «Oh!» in a childish whisper and sat down with tears.

      Ashley said «Good-bye», very softly, and walked into the dark front hall.

      «Kiss me», she whispered. «Kiss me good-bye».

      «No, Scarlett, no», he said in a low voice.

      «I love you», she said.

      «Good-bye», he said hoarsely.

      Chapter XI

      January and February of 1864 passed, full of cold rains and wild winds. After hard fighting, nearly all of Tennessee was now held by the Union troops.

      Scarlett was happy those two months. Ashley loved her. She was sure of that now, and this conviction was very pleasant.

      «When the war is over!» she thought. «When it’s over, then…»

      When the war is over, everything will be settled, somehow. If Ashley loves her, he simply will not be able to live with Melanie.

      But then, a divorce was impossible. And Ellen and Gerald, staunch Catholics, will never permit her to marry a divorced man. It will mean leaving the Church! In a choice between the Church and Ashley, Scarlett will choose Ashley.

      Everything will be all right when the war is over. If Ashley loves her, he’ll find a way. In March the hideous blow fell. Melanie told her she was going to have a baby. She must go home to Tara, home, where she belonged. But, as they sat at the table in the morning, a telegram came.

      It was to Melanie from Ashley’s servant, Mose.

      «Regret to inform you Major Wilkes missing since scouting expedition[16] three days ago. Colonel Sloan».

      Her door opened and Melanie entered.

      «Scarlett», she said. «I know my darling is dead!»

      They fell on the bed. Ashley is dead!

      «At least», Melanie whispered, «I’ve got his baby».

      «And I», thought Scarlett, «I’ve got nothing… except the look on his face when he told me good-bye».

      One afternoon, Melanie came home from town and Rhett Butler. She had fainted at the telegraph office and Rhett had escorted her home. He carried her up the stairs to her bedroom.

      «Mrs. Wilkes», he questioned abruptly, «you are going to have a baby, are you not?»

      She nodded.

      «Then you must take better care of yourself. If you permit me, Mrs. Wilkes, I will use my influence in Washington to learn about Mr. Wilkes’ fate. If he is a prisoner, he will be on the Federal lists».

      «Oh, you are so kind», cried Melanie. «How can people say such dreadful things about you?»

      It was a month before he had news. Ashley was not dead! He had been wounded and taken prisoner. He was at Rock Island, a prison camp in Illinois.

      Oh, Ashley was in that horrible place! Ashley was alive but he was wounded and at Rock Island.

      «Oh, Captain Butler, isn’t there some way… Can’t you use your influence…» cried Melanie.

      «I hadn’t told you before, Mrs. Wilkes, but your husband had a chance to get out and refused it».

      «Oh, no!» cried Melanie in disbelief.

      «Yes, indeed. The Yankees are recruiting men for frontier service to fight the Indians, recruiting them from among Confederate prisoners. Any prisoner who will take the oath of allegiance and enlist for Indian service for two years will be released and sent West. Mr. Wilkes refused».

      «Oh, how could he?» cried Scarlett. «Why didn’t he take the oath and then desert and come home?»

      «How can you even suggest that?” said Melanie. “Betray his own Confederacy and then betray the Yankees! I’ll be proud of him if he dies in prison. Of course, he refused».

      Later Scarlett asked Rhett:

      «And you, for example, won’t you enlist with the Yankees and then desert?»

      «Of course», said Rhett.

      «Then why didn’t Ashley do it?»

      «He’s a gentleman», said Rhett.

      Chapter XII

      The Yankees under General Sherman were in Georgia again, above Dalton, one hundred miles northwest of Atlanta. An army of refugees fell back before them. Rich and poor, black and white, women and children, the old, the dying, the crippled, the wounded, the women in pregnancy, crowded the road to Atlanta on trains, afoot, on horseback, in carriages and wagons.

      The wounded flooded Atlanta and the town was appalled. The hospitals overflowed and wounded lay on the floors of empty stores and in the warehouses. Every hotel, boarding house and private residence was crowded with sufferers. There was endless cooking and lifting and turning and fanning, endless hours of washing and rerolling bandages and picking lint.

      On the day when the first wounded from Kennesaw Mountain were coming in, Scarlett silently cursed the wounded and the whole Southern Confederacy. She was sick of all this nursing. This very day she will tell Mrs. Merriwether that Ellen had written her to come home for a visit.

      But that worthy matron said:

      «Don’t let me hear any more such foolishness, Scarlett Hamilton. I’ll write your mother today and tell her how much we need you, and I’m sure she’ll understand and let you stay. Now, put on your apron and trot over to Dr. Meade. He needs someone to help with the dressings».

      «Oh, God», thought Scarlett drearily, «that’s just the trouble. I shall die if I smell these stinks

      She went hastily up the two short blocks to Peachtree Street. She was standing on the corner, ashamed to go home to Aunt Pitty’s but determined not to go back to the hospital, when Rhett Butler drove by.

      «You look like the ragpicker’s child», he observed. Why was he so rude?

      «Drive me somewhere where nobody will see me. I won’t go back to the hospital!»

      «A traitor to Our Glorious Cause!»

      He was well dressed. His coat and trousers were new, not ragged. His brown face was bland.

      «You little fraud», he said. «You dance all night with the soldiers and give them roses and ribbons and tell them how you’d die for the Cause, and after that you decamp hastily».

      «I’m just sick and tired of that old hospital», she said. «And every day more and more wounded come in. It’s all General Johnston’s fault».

      «My dear, I wear no uniform and wave no sword and the fortunes of the Confederacy mean nothing at all to me».

      «Rhett, look, down the street! That crowd of men! They aren’t soldiers. Why, they’re darkies!»

      There was a great cloud of red dust coming up the street and from the cloud came the sound of a hundred or more negro voices. Scarlett looked curiously at the black men, picks and shovels over their shoulders. Then her eyes saw Big Sam, the foreman of Tara! But what was Big Sam doing here, so far away from home?

      The giant caught sight of her and his black face split in a grin of delighted recognition. He halted, dropped his shovel and started toward her: «Oh God! It’s

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