style="font-size:15px;"> Scarlett stood on the landing and peered cautiously over the banisters into the hall below. It was empty. Melanie was lying down on the bed with Honey and Hetty Tarleton, and then she slipped into the hall. The library was in darkness. Large numbers of books always depressed her.
She closed the door.
«Why, Scarlett!» said Ashley’s voice. He stood in the hall.
«Who are you hiding from – Charles or the Tarletons?»
She could not speak, but she drew him into the room. He entered, puzzled but interested. Automatically he closed the door behind him and took her hand.
«What is it?» he said, almost in a whisper. «A secret to tell me?»
«Yes… a secret. I love you».
For an instance there was a silence. Why did Ashley look so oddly and say nothing?
«Isn’t it enough that you’ve collected every other man’s heart here today?» he said.
Something was wrong! This was not the way she had planned it. Ashley was acting as if he thought she was just flirting with him.
«Ashley… tell me… Oh, my dear, I lo…»
«You must not say these things, Scarlett! You don’t mean them. You’ll hate yourself for saying them, and you’ll hate me for hearing them!»
«I will never hate you. I tell you I love you and I know you must… Ashley, do you love me?»
«Yes», he said dully. «I do. But, Scarlett, can’t we forget that?»
«No», she whispered. «I can’t. What do you mean? Don’t you want to marry me?»
He replied, «I’m going to marry Melanie».
She looked into his crystal eyes.
«Father will announce the engagement tonight. We will be married soon. I never dreamed that you… You’ve so many beaux».
«But you just said you loved me».
«My dear, I don’t want to say things that will hurt you. Love isn’t enough when two people are as different as we are. You would want all of a man, Scarlett, his body, his heart, his soul, his thoughts. And if you do not have them, you will be miserable. And I can’t give you all of me».
«Do you love her?»
«We understand each other. Scarlett! I’m going to marry Melanie. How can’t I love you? You who can love and hate with a violence impossible to me?»
«You coward! You’re afraid to marry me!»
«But dear Scarlett», his voice pleaded. «Did I ever…»
Her anger rose, the anger of hurt pride and feminine vanity.
«I shall hate you till I die, you cad… you coward!»
«Scarlett… please…»
She slapped him across the face with all the strength she had. He said nothing but lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he was gone. She sat down again.
Her hand dropped to a little table beside her. She picked up the bowl and hurled it viciously across the room toward the fireplace. It splintered with a little crash against the marble mantelpiece.
«This», said a voice from the depths of the sofa, «is too much».
Rhett Butler rose from the sofa where he had been lying and made her a bow. He had heard everything!
«Sir», she said, «you are no gentleman!»
«An apt observation», he answered airily. «And, you, Miss, are no lady».
She walked out of the room and banged the heavy door behind her.
She went up the stairs swiftly. The she stopped and saw Charles. When he saw her, he hurried toward her. Charles stared at her.
«I’m so clumsy», he said. «I forgot how delicate ladies are. I’m sorry. Shall we sit on the bench?»
She nodded and he carefully handed her down.
«He has a lot of money», she was thinking. «And he hasn’t any parents to bother me and he lives in Atlanta. And if I marry him right away, it will show Ashley that I don’t care… that I was only flirting with him. And it will kill Honey. And it will hurt Melanie, because she loves Charles so much. And it would hurt Stu and Brent…»
«I can’t decide now whether to go with Mr. Wade Hampton’s South Carolina Legion or with the Atlanta Gate City Guard», said Charles…
She said, «Oh» and their eyes met.
«Will you wait for me, Miss Scarlett?»
«I don’t want to wait», she said.
«Can you possibly love me?»
She said nothing.
«You will marry me soon, Miss Scarlett?»
«Um», she said.
«When may I speak to your father?»
«The sooner the better».
He leaped up and looked down at her radiantly. The white house will never be her house now. Ashley will never marry her. Oh, Ashley, Ashley! What have I done? She loved Ashley and she knew she loved him.
Chapter V
Within two weeks Scarlett had become a wife, and within two months more she was a widow. But, to her dismay, motherhood soon followed. Two weeks! So short an engagement was impossible in times of peace. But the South was aflame with war.
Charles was impatient to be off to South Carolina to join Wade Hampton’s Legion. The South was intoxicated with enthusiasm and excitement. Every young man hastened to enlist, hastened to marry his sweetheart before he rushed off to Virginia to fight the Yankees. There were dozens of war weddings in the County.
Scarlett was clad in Ellen’s wedding dress and veil. Gerald was happy that his daughter was marrying both money and a fine name. Ashley was standing at the bottom of the steps with Melanie’s arm through his. When she saw the look on his face, she thought: «This can’t be real. It can’t be. It’s a nightmare. I mustn’t think of it now. I’ll think later, when I can’t see his eyes».
It was all very dreamlike, the passage through the aisle of smiling people, Charles’ face, the congratulations, the kissing and the dancing… all, all like a dream. Even the feel of Ashley’s kiss upon her cheek, even Melanie’s soft whisper, «Now, we’re really and truly sisters», were unreal.
As Cherles hesitatingly approached the bed Scarlett spoke in a hoarse whisper:
«I’ll scream out loud if you come near me. I will! Get away from me!»
So Charles Hamilton spent his wedding night in an armchair in the corner. Her own wedding had been nightmarish, but Ashley’s wedding was
