idea that I’m in love with him! How could he know? I’ve always acted so prissy and ladylike and touch-me-not around him he probably thinks I don’t care a thing about him except as a friend. Yes, that’s why he’s never spoken! He thinks his love is hopeless. And that’s why he’s looked so -
“He’s been broken hearted because he thinks I’m in love with Brent or Stuart or Cade. And probably he thinks that if he can’t have me, he might as well please his family and marry Melanie. But if he knew I did love him —”
Her spirits went from deepest depression to excited happiness. This was the answer to Ashley’s strange conduct. He didn’t know! If he knew she loved him, he would hasten to her side. She had only to -
“Oh! What a fool I’ve been not to think of this till now! I must think of some way to let him know. He wouldn’t marry her if he knew I loved him! How could he?”
Even now, it wasn’t too late! And Ashley’s engagement had not even been announced yet! Yes, there was plenty of time!
If no love lay between Ashley and Melanie but only a promise given long ago, then why wasn’t it possible for him to break that promise and marry her? Surely he would do it, if he knew that she, Scarlett, loved him. She must find some way to let him know. She would find some way! And then -
When the last “Amen” sounded, they all rose.
Scarlett entered her room, set the candle on the chest of drawers and chose the dancing dress that needed stitching. Throwing it across her arm, she crossed the hall quietly. The door of her parents’ bedroom was slightly ajar and, before she could knock, Ellen’s voice came to her ears.
“Mr. O’Hara, you must dismiss Jonas Wilkerson.”
Gerald exploded. “And where will I be getting another overseer who wouldn’t be cheating me?”
“He must be dismissed, immediately, tomorrow morning. Big Sam is a good foreman and he can take over the duties until you can hire another overseer.”
“Ah, ha!” came Gerald’s voice. “So, I understand! Then the worthy Jonas sired the —”
“He must be dismissed.”
“So, he is the father of Emmie Slattery’s baby,” thought Scarlett. “Oh, well, what else can you expect from a Yankee man and a white trash girl?”
Then, after a pause, she knocked on the door and handed the dress to her mother.
By the time Scarlett had undressed and blown out the candle, her plan for tomorrow had worked itself out in every detail. It was a simple plan. First, she would be “prideful,” as Gerald had commanded. From the moment she arrived at Twelve Oaks, she would be her gayest self. No one would suspect that she had ever been downhearted because of Ashley and Melanie. And she would flirt with every man there. That would be cruel to Ashley, but it would make him yearn for her all the more. She wouldn’t overlook a man of marriageable age, from old Frank Kennedy, who was Suellen’s beau, down to shy, quiet, blushing Charles Hamilton, Melanie’s brother. They would swarm around her like bees around a hive, and certainly Ashley would be drawn from Melanie to join the circle of her admirers. Then somehow she would maneuver to get a few minutes alone with him, away from the crowd. She hoped everything would work out that way. But if Ashley didn’t make the first move, she would simply have to do it herself.
On realizing how popular she was, that look of sadness and despair would be in his eyes. Then she would make him happy again by letting him discover that, popular though she was, she preferred him above any other man in all the world. Of course, she would do it all in a ladylike way. She wouldn’t say to him that she loved him – that would never do. But the manner of telling him was a detail that troubled her not at all. She had managed such situations before and she could do it again.
Lying in the bed, she pictured the whole scene in her mind. She saw the look of surprise and happiness that would come over his face when he realized that she really loved him, and she heard the words he would say asking her to be his wife.
Naturally, she would have to say then that she simply couldn’t think of marrying a man when he was engaged to another girl, but he would insist and finally she would let herself be persuaded. Then they would decide to run off to Jonesboro that very afternoon and -
Why, by this time tomorrow night, she might be Mrs. Ashley Wilkes!
She sat up in bed, hugging her knees, and for a long happy moment she was Mrs. Ashley Wilkes – Ashley’s bride! Then a slight chill entered her heart. Suppose it didn’t work out this way? Suppose Ashley didn’t beg her to run away with him? Resolutely she pushed the thought from her mind.
“I won’t think of that now,” she said firmly. “If I think of it now, it will upset me. There’s no reason why things won’t come out the way I want them – if he loves me. And I know he does!”
Ellen had never told her that desire and achievement were two different matters. She made the plans that a sixteen-year- old makes when life has been so pleasant that defeat is an impossibility and a pretty dress and a clear complexion are weapons to fi ght fate.
Chapter V
It was ten o’clock in the morning. The day was warm for April and the golden sunlight streamed into Scarlett’s room through the blue curtains of the wide windows.
“Thank God, it isn’t raining.” On the bed lay the applegreen, silk ball dress, neatly packed in a large cardboard box. It was ready to be carried to Twelve Oaks to be put on before the dancing began. If her plans were successful, she would not wear that dress tonight. Long before the ball began, she and Ashley would be on their way to Jonesboro to be married. The troublesome question was – what dress should she wear to the barbecue?
What dress would best set off her charms and make her most irresistible to Ashley? Since eight o’clock she had been trying on dresses.
There remained a colored cotton dress which Scarlett felt was not festive enough for the occasion. It was not suitable for a barbecue, for it had only tiny puff ed sleeves and the neck was low enough for a dancing dress. But there was nothing else to do but wear it. After all she was not ashamed of her neck and arms and bosom, even if it was not correct to show them in the morning.
As she stood before the mirror, she thought that there was absolutely nothing about her figure to cause her shame. Her neck was short but rounded and her arms plump. Her breasts, pushed high by her stays, were very nice breasts. What a pity legs could not be shown, she thought. And as for her waist – there was no one in Fayetteville, Jonesboro or in three counties, who had so small a waist.
The thought of her waist brought her back to practical matters. Mammy would have to lace her tighter. She pushed open the door and shouted for her impatiently.
Mammy entered puffing. In her large black hands was a tray upon which food smoked. In the excitement of trying on dresses Scarlett had forgotten Mammy’s rule that, before going to any party, the O’Hara girls must be crammed so full of food at home they would be unable to eat any refreshments at the party.
“It’s no use. I won’t eat it. You can just take it back to the kitchen. I’m going to have a good time today and eat as much as I please.”
At this heresy, Mammy frowned with indignation.
“Besides, at the last barbecue, Ashley Wilkes told me he liked to see a girl with a healthy appetite.”
Mammy shook her head.
