mrs. elsing cocked her ear toward the hall. hearing melanie’s steps die away into the kitchenwhere rattling dishes and clinking silverware gave promise of refreshments, she turned and spokesoftly to the ladies who sat in a circle in the parlor, their sewing baskets in their laps.
“personally, i do not intend to call on scarlett now or ever,” she said, the chill elegance of herface colder than usual.
the other members of the ladies’ sewing circle for the widows and orphans of theconfederacy eagerly laid down their needles and edged their rocking chairs closer. all the ladieshad been bursting to discuss scarlett and rhett but melanie’s presence prevented it. just the daybefore, the couple had returned from new orleans and they were occupying the bridal suite at thenational hotel.
“hugh says that i must call out of courtesy for the way captain butler saved his life,” mrs. elsing continued. “and poor fanny sides with him and says she will call too. i said to her ‘fanny,’
i said, ‘if it wasn’t for scarlett, tommy would be alive this minute. it is an insult to his memory tocall.’ and fanny had no better sense than to say ‘mother, i’m not calling on scarlett. i’m calling oncaptain butler. he tried his best to save tommy and it wasn’t his fault if he failed.’ ”
“how silly young people are!” said mrs. merriwether. “call, indeed!” her stout bosom swelledindignantly as she remembered scarlett’s rude reception of her advice on marrying rhett. “mymaybelle is just as silly as your fanny. she says she and rené will call, because captain butlerkept rené from getting hanged. and i said if it hadn’t been for scarlett exposing herself, renéwould never have been in any danger. and father merriwether intends to call and he talks like hewas in his dotage and says he’s grateful to that scoundrel, even if i’m not. i vow, since fathermerriwether was in that watling creature’s house he has acted in a disgraceful way. call, indeed! icertainly shan’t call. scarlett has outlawed herself by marrying such a man. he was bad enoughwhen he was a speculator during the war and making money out of our hunger but now that he ishand in glove with the carpetbaggers and scalawags and a friend—actually a friend of that odiouswretch, governor bullock— call, indeed!”
mrs. bonnell sighed. she was a plump brown wren of a woman with a cheerful face.
“they’ll only call once, for courtesy, dolly. i don’t know that i blame them. i’ve heard that allthe men who were out that night intend to call, and i think they should. somehow, it’s hard for meto think that scarlett is her mother’s child. i went to school with ellen robillard in savannah andthere was never a lovelier girl than she was and she was very dear to me. if only her father had notopposed her match with her cousin, philippe robillard! there was nothing really wrong with theboy—boys must sow their wild oats. but ellen must run off and marry old man o’hara and have adaughter like scarlett. but really, i feel that i must call once out of memory to ellen.”
“sentimental nonsense!” snorted mrs. merriwether with vigor. “kitty bonnell, are you going tocall on a woman who married a bare year after her husband’s death? a woman—”
“and she really killed mr. kennedy,” interrupted india. her voice was cool but acid. whenevershe thought of scarlett it was hard for her even to be polite, remembering, always rememberingstuart tarleton. “and i have always thought there was more between her and that butler manbefore mr. kennedy was killed than most people suspected.”
before the ladies could recover from their shocked astonishment at her statement and at aspinster mentioning such a matter, melanie was standing in the doorway. so engrossed had theybeen in their gossip that they had not heard her light tread and now, confronted by their hostess,they looked like whispering schoolgirls caught by a teacher. alarm was added to consternation atthe change in melanie’s face. she was pink with righteous anger, her gentle eyes snapping fire, hernostrils quivering. no one had ever seen melanie angry before. not a lady present thought hercapable of wrath. they all loved her but they thought her the sweetest, most pliable of youngwomen, deferential to her elders and without any opinions of her own.
“how dare you, india?” she questioned in a low voice that shook. “where will your jealousylead you? for shame!”
india’s face went white but her head was high.
“i retract nothing,” she said briefly. but her mind was seething.
“jealous, am i?” she thought. with the memory of stuart tarleton and of honey and charles,didn’t she have good reason to be jealous of scarlett? didn’t she have good reason to hate her,especially now that she had a suspicion that scarlett had somehow entangled ashley in her web?
she thought: “there’s plenty i could tell you about ashley and your precious scarlett.” india wastorn between the desire to shield ashley by her silence and to extricate him by telling all hersuspicions to melanie and the whole world. that would force scarlett to release whatever hold shehad on ashley. but this was not the time. she had nothing definite, only suspicions.
“i retract nothing,” she repeated.
“then it is fortunate that you are no longer living under my roof,” said melanie and her wordswere cold.
india leaped to her feet, red flooding her sallow face.
“melanie, you—my sister-in-law—you aren’t going to quarrel with me over that fast piece—”
“scarlett is my sister-in-law, too,” said melanie, meeting india’s eyes squarely as though theywere strangers. “and dearer to me than any blood sister could ever be. if you are so forgetful ofmy favors at her hands, i am not. she stayed with me through the whole siege when she could havegone home, when even aunt pitty had run away to macon. she brought my baby for me when theyankees were almost in atlanta and she burdened herself with me and beau all that dreadful trip totara when she could have left me here in a hospital for the yankees to get me. and she nursed andfed me, even if she was tired and even if she went hungry. because i was sick and weak, i had thebest mattress at tara. when i could walk, i had the only whole pair of shoes. you can forget thosethings she did for me, india, but i cannot. and when ashley came home, sick, discouraged, withouta home, without a cent in his pockets, she took him in like a sister. and when we thought we wouldhave to go north and it was breaking our hearts to leave georgia, scarlett stepped in and gave himthe mill to run. and captain butler saved ashley’s life out of the kindness of his heart. certainlyashley had no claim on him! and i am grateful, grateful to scarlett and to captain butler. but you,india! how can you forget the favors scarlett has done me and ashley? how can you hold yourbrother’s life so cheap as to cast slurs on the man who saved him? if you went down on your kneesto captain butler and scarlett, it would not be enough.”
“now, melly,” began mrs. merriwether briskly, for she had recovered her composure, “that’s noway to talk to india.”
“i heard what you said about scarlett too,” cried melanie, swinging on the stout old lady withthe air of a duelist who, having withdrawn a blade from one prostrate opponent, turns hungrilytoward another. “and you too, mrs. elsing. what you think of her in your own petty minds, i donot care, for that is your business. but what you say about her in my own house or in my ownhearing, ever, is my business. but how can you even think such dreadful things, much less saythem? are your men so cheap to you that you would rather see them dead than alive? have you nogratitude to the man who saved them and saved them at risk of his own life? the yankees mighteasily have thought him a member of the klan if the whole truth had come out! they might havehanged him. but he risked himself for your men. for your father-in-law, mrs. merriwether, and your son-in-law and your two nephews, too. and your brother, mrs. bonnell, and your son andson-in-law, mrs. elsing. ingrates, that’s what you are! i ask an apology from all of you.”
mrs. elsing was on her feet cramming her sewing into her box, her mouth set.
“if anyone had ever told me that you could be so ill bred, melly— no, i will not apologize.
india is right scarlett is a flighty, fast bit of baggage. i can’t forget how she acted during the war.
and i can’t forget how poor white trashy she’s acted since she got a little money—”
“what you can’t forget” cut in melanie, clenching her small fists against her sides, “is that shedemoted hugh because he wasn’t smart enough to run her mill.”
“melly!” moaned a chorus of voices.
mrs. elsing’s head jerked up and she started toward the door. with her hand on the knob of thefront door, she stopped and turned.
“melly,” she said and her voice softened, “honey, this breaks my heart. i was your mother’s bestfriend and i helped dr. meade bring you into this world and i’ve loved you like you were mine. ifit were something that mattered it wouldn’t be so hard to hear you talk like this. but about awoman like scarlett o’hara who’d just as soon do you a dirty turn as the next of us—”
tears had started in melanie’s eyes at the first words mrs. elsing spoke, but her face hardenedwhen the old lady had finished.
“i want it understood,” she said, “that any of you who do not call on scarlett need never, nevercall on me.”
there was a loud murmur of voices, confusion as the ladies got to their feet mrs. elsing droppedher sewing box on the floor and came back into the room, her false fringe jerking awry.
“i won’t have it!” she cried. “i won’t have it! you are beside yourself, melly, and i don’t holdyou responsible. you shall be my friend and i shall be yours. i refuse to let this come between us.”
she was crying and somehow, melanie was in her arms, crying too, but declaring between sobsthat she meant every word she said. several of the other ladies burst into tears and mrs.
merriwether, trumpeting loudly into her handkerchief, embraced both mrs. elsing and melanie.
aunt pitty, who had been a petrified witness to the whole scene, suddenly slid to the floor in whatwas one of the few real fainting spells she had ever had. amid the tears and confusion and kissingand scurrying for smelling salts and brandy, there was only one calm face, one dry pair of eyes.
india wilkes took her departure unnoticed by anyone.
grandpa merriwether, meeting uncle henry hamilton in the girl of the period saloon severalhours later, related the happenings of the morning which he had heard from mrs. merriwether. hetold it was relish for he was delighted that someone had the courage to face down his redoubtabledaughter-in-law. certainly, he had never had such courage.
“well, what did the pack of silly fools finally decide to do?” asked uncle henry irritably.
“i dunno for sure,” said grandpa, “but it looks to me like melly won hands down on this go-round. i’ll bet they’ll all call, at least once. folks set a store by that niece of yours, henry.”
“melly’s a fool and the ladies are right. scarlett is a slick piece of baggage and i don’t see why charlie ever married her,” said uncle henry gloomily. “but melly was right too, in a way. it’s onlydecent that the families of the men captain butler saved should call. when you come right down toit, i haven’t got so much against butler. he showed himself a fine man that night he saved ourhides. it’s scarlett who sticks under my tail like a cocklebur. she’s a sight too smart for her owngood. well, i’ve got to call. scalawag or not scarlett is my niece by marriage, after all. i wasaiming to call this afternoon.”
“i’ll go with you, henry. dolly will be fit to be tied when she hears i’ve gone. wait till i get onemore drink.”
“no, we’ll get a drink off captain butler. i’ll say this for him, he always has good licker.”
rhett had said that the old guard would never surrender and he was right. he knew how littlesignificance there was to the few calls made upon them, and he knew why the calls were made.
the families of the men who had been in the ill-starred klan foray did call first, but called withobvious infrequency thereafter. and they did not invite the rhett butlers to their homes.
rhett said they would not have come at all, except for fear of violence at the hands of melanie,where he got this idea, scarlett did not know but she dismissed it with the contempt it deserved.
for what possible influence could melanie have on people like mrs. elsing and mrs. merriwether?
that they did not call again worried her very little; in fact, their absence was hardly noticed, forher suite was crowded with guests of another type. “new people,” established atlantians calledthem, when they were not calling them something less polite.
there were many “new people” staying at the national hotel who, like rhett and scarlett, werewaiting for their houses to be completed. they were gay, wealthy people, very much like rhett’snew orleans friends, elegant of dress, free with their money, vague as to their antecedents. all themen were republicans and were “in atlanta on business connected with the state government.”
just what the business was, scarlett did not know and did not trouble to learn.
rhett could have told her exactly what it was—the same business that buzzards have with dyinganimals. they smelted death from afar and were drawn unerringly to it, to gorge themselves.
government of georgia by its own citizens was dead, the state was helpless and the adventurerswere swarming in.
the wives of rhett’s scalawag and carpetbagger friends called in droves and so did the “newpeople” she had met when she sold lumber for their homes. rhett said that, having done businesswith them, she should receive them and, having received them, she found them pleasant company.
they lovely clothes and talked about the or hard times, but confined the conversatio(wore) ntofashions,scandalsand(never) whist.scarletthadneve(war) r played cards before and she tookto whist with joy, becoming a good player in a short time.
whenever she was at the hotel there was a crowd of whist players in her suite. but she was notoften in her suite these days, for she was too busy with the building of her new house to bebothered with callers. these days she did not much care whether she had callers or not. she wantedto delay her social activities until the day when the house was finished and she could emerge as themistress of atlanta’s largest mansion, the hostess of the town’s most elaborate entertainments.
through the long warm days she watched her red stone and gray shingle house rise grandly, totower above any other house on peachtree street. forgetful of the store and the mills, she spent hertime on the lot, arguing with carpenters, bickering with masons, harrying the contractor. as the.
walls went swiftly up she thought with satisfaction that, when finished, it would be larger and finerlooking than any other house in town. it would be even more imposing than the near-by jamesresidence which had just been purchased for the official mansion of governor bullock.
the governor’s mansion was brave with jigsaw work on banisters and eaves, but the intricatescrollwork on scarlett’s house put the mansion to shame. the mansion had a ballroom, but itlooked like a billiard table compared with the enormous room that covered the entire third floor ofscarlett’s house. in fact, her house had more of everything than the mansion, or any other house intown for that matter, more cupolas and turrets and towers and balconies and lightning rods and farmore windows with colored panes.
a veranda encircled the entire house, and four flights of steps on the four sides of the buildingled up to it. the yard was wide and green and scattered about it were rustic iron benches, an ironsummerhouse, fashionably called a “gazebo” which, scarlett had been assured, was of pure gothicdesign, and two large iron statues, one a stag and the other a mastiff as large as a shetland pony. towade and ella, a little dazzled by the size, splendor and fashionable dark gloom of their newhome, these two metal animals were the only cheerful notes.
within, the house was furnished as scarlett had desired, with thick red carpeting which ran fromwall to wall, red velvet portieres and the newest of highly varnished black-walnut furniture, carvedwherever there was an inch for carving and upholstered in such slick horsehair that ladies had todeposit themselves thereon with great care for fear of sliding off. everywhere on the walls weregilt-framed mirrors and long pier glasses—as many, rhett said idly, there were in belle watling’sestablishment.interspreadweresteelengravingsinheavyframes(as) , some of them eightfeet long, which scarlett had ordered especially from new york. the walls were covered with richdark paper, the ceilings high and the house was always dim, for the windows were overdraped with plum-colored p(were) lush hangings that shut out most of the sunlight.
all in all it was an establishment to take one’s breath away and scarlett, stepping on the softcarpets and sinking into the embrace of the deep feather beds, remembered the cold floors and thestraw-stuffed bedticks of tara and was satisfied. she thought it the most beautiful and mostelegantly furnished house she had ever seen, but rhett said it was a nightmare. however, if it madeher happy, she was welcome to it.
“a stranger without being told a word about us would know this house was built with ill-gottengains,” he said. “you know, scarlett, money ill come by never comes to good and this house isproof of the axiom. it’s just the kind of house a profiteer would build.”
but scarlett, abrim with pride and happiness and full of plans for the entertainments she wouldgive when they were thoroughly settled in the house, only pinched his ear playfully and said:
“fiddle-dee-dee! how you do run on!”
she knew, by now, that rhett loved to take her down a peg, and would spoil her fun wheneverhe could, if she lent an attentive ear to his jibes. should she take him seriously, she would beforced to quarrel with him and she did not care to match swords, for she always came off second best. so she hardly ever listened to anything he said, and what she was forced to hear she tried toturn off as a joke. at least, she tried for a while.
during their honeymoon and for the greater part of their stay at the national hotel, they hadlived together with amiability. but scarcely had they moved into the new house and scarlettgathered her new friends about her, when sudden sharp quarrels sprang up between them. theywere brief quarrels, short lived because it was impossible to keep a quarrel going with rhett, whoremained coolly indifferent to her hot words and waited his chance to pink her in an unguardedspot. she quarreled; rhett did not. he only stated his unequivocal opinion of herself, her actions,her house and her new friends. and some of his opinions were of such a nature that she could nolonger ignore them and treat them as jokes.
for instance when she decided to change the name of “kennedy’s general store” to somethingmore edifying, she asked him to think of a title that would include the word “emporium.” rhettsuggested “caveat emptorium,” assuring her that it would be a title most in keeping with the typeof goods sold in the store. she thought it had an imposing sound and even went so far as to havethe sign painted, when ashley wilkes, embarrassed, translated the real meaning. and rhett hadroared at her rage.
and there was the way he treated mammy. mammy had never yielded an inch from her standthat rhett was a mule in horse harness. she was polite but cold to rhett. she always called him“cap’n butler,” never “mist’ rhett.” she never even dropped a curtsy when rhett presented herwith the red petticoat and she never wore it either. she kept ella and wade out of rhett’s waywhenever she could, despite the fact that wade adored uncle rhett and rhett was obviously fondof the boy. but instead of discharging mammy or being short and stern with her, rhett treated herwith the utmost deference, with far more courtesy than he treated any of the ladies of scarlett’srecent acquaintance. in fact, with more courtesy than he treated scarlett herself. he always askedmammy’s permission, to take wade riding and consulted with her before he bought ella dolls. andmammy was hardly polite to him.
scarlett felt that rhett should be firm with mammy, as became the head of the house, but rhettonly laughed and said that mammy was the real head of the house.
he infuriated scarlett by saying coolly that he was preparing to be very sorry for her some yearshence, when the republican rule was gone from georgia and the democrats back in power.
“when the democrats get a governor and a legislature of their own, all your new vulgarrepublican friends will be wiped off the chess board and sent back to minding bars and emptyingslops where they belong. and you’ll be left out on the end of a limb, with never a democraticfriend or a republican either. well, take no thought of the morrow.”
scarlett laughed, and with some justice, for at that time, bullock was safe in the governor’schair, twenty-seven negroes were in the legislature and thousands of the democratic voters ofgeorgia were disfranchised.
“the democrats will never get back. all they do is make yankees madder and put off the daywhen they could get back. all they do is talk big and run around at night ku kluxing.”
“they will get back. i know southerners. i know georgians. they are a tough and bullheaded lot. if they’ve got to fight another war to get back, they’ll fight another war. if they’ve got to buyblack votes like the yankees have done, then they will buy black votes. if they’ve got to vote tenthousand dead men like the yankees did, every corpse in every cemetery in georgia will be at thepolls. things are going to get so bad under the benign rule of our good friend rufus bullock thatgeorgia is going to vomit him up.”
“rhett, don’t use such vulgar words!” cried scarlett. “you talk like i wouldn’t be glad to see thedemocrats come back! and you know that isn’t so! i’d be very glad to see them back. do youthink i like to see these soldiers hanging around, reminding me of—do you think i like— why, i’ma georgian, too! i’d like to see the democrats get back. but they won’t. not ever. and even if theydid, how would that affect my friends? they’d still have their money, wouldn’t they?”
“if they kept their money. but i doubt the ability of any of them to keep money more than fiveyears at the rate they’re spending. easy come, easy go. their money won’t do them any good. anymore than my money has done you any good. it certainly hasn’t made a horse out of you yet, hasit, my pretty mule?”
the quarrel which sprang from this last remark lasted for days. after the fourth day of scarlett’ssulks and obvious silent demands for an apology, rhett went to new orleans, taking wade withhim, over mammy’s protests, and he stayed away until scarlett’s tantrum had passed. but the stingof not humbling him remained with her.
when he came back from new orleans, cool and bland, she swallowed her anger as best shecould, pushing it into the back of her mind to be thought of at some later date. she did not want tobother with anything unpleasant now. she wanted to be happy for her mind was full of the firstparty she would give in the new house. it would be an enormous night reception with palms and anorchestra and all the porches shrouded in canvas, and a collation that made her mouth water inanticipation. to it she intended to invite everyone she had ever known in atlanta, all the old friendsand all the new and charming ones she had met since returning from her honeymoon. theexcitement of the party banished, for the most part, the memory of rhett’s barbs and she washappy, happier than she had been in years as she planned her reception.
oh, what fun it was to be rich! to give parties and never count the cost! to buy the mostexpensive furniture and dresses and food and never think about the bills! how marvelous to beable to send tidy checks to aunt pauline and aunt eulalie in charleston, and to will at tara! oh,the jealous fools who said money wasn’t everything! how perverse of rhett to say that it had donenothing for her!
scarlett issued cards of invitation to all her friends and acquaintances, old and new, even thoseshe did not like. she did not except even mrs. merriwether who had been almost rude when shecalled on her at the national hotel or mrs. elsing who had been cool to frigidness. she invitedmrs. meade and mrs. whiting who she knew disliked her and who she knew would beembarrassed because they did not have the proper clothes to wear to so elegant a function. forscarlett’s housewarming, or “crush,” as it was fashionable to call such evening parties, half-reception, half-ball, was by far the most elaborate affair atlanta had ever seen.
that night the house and canvas-covered veranda were filled with guests who drank herchampagne punch and ate her patties and creamed oysters and danced to the music of the orchestrathat was carefully screened by a wall of palms and rubber plants. but none of those whom rhetthad termed the “old guard” were present except melanie and ashley, aunt pitty and uncle henry,dr. and mrs. meade and grandpa merriwether.
many of the old guard had reluctantly decided to attend the “crush.” some had acceptedbecause of melanie’s attitude, others because they felt they owed rhett a debt for saving their livesand those of their relatives. but, two days before the function, a rumor went about atlanta thatgovernor bullock had been invited. the old guard signified their disapproval by a sheaf of cards,regretting their inability to accept scarlett’s kind invitation. and the small group of old friends whodid attend took their departure, embarrassed but firm, as soon as the governor entered scarlett’shouse.
scarlett was so bewildered and infuriated at these slights that the party was utterly ruined forher. her elegant “crush”! she had planned it so lovingly and so few old friends and no old enemieshad been there to see how wonderful it was! after the last guest had gone home at dawn, shewould have cried and stormed had she not been afraid that rhett would roar with laughter, afraidthat she would read “i told you so” in his dancing black eyes, even if he did not speak the words.
so she swallowed her wrath with poor grace and pretended indifference.
only to melanie, the next morning, did she permit herself the luxury of exploding.
“you insulted me, melly wilkes, and you made ashley and the others insult me! you knowthey’d have never gone home so soon if you hadn’t dragged them. oh, i saw you! just when istarted to bring governor bullock over to present him to you, you ran like a rabbit!”
“i did not believe—i could not believe that he would really be present,” answered melanieunhappily. “even though everybody said—”
“everybody? so everybody’s been clacking and blabbing about me, have they?” cried scarlettfuriously. “do you mean to tell me if you’d known the governor was going to be present, youwouldn’t have come either?”
“no,” said melanie in a low voice, her eyes on the floor. “darling, i just wouldn’t have come.”
“great balls of fire! so you’d have insulted me like everybody else did!”
“oh, mercy!” cried melly, in real distress. “i didn’t mean to hurt you. you’re my own sister,darling, my own charlie’s widow and i—”
she put a timid hand on scarlett’s arm. but scarlett flung it off, wishing fervently that she couldroar as loudly as gerald used to roar when in a temper. but melanie faced her wrath. and as shelooked into scarlett’s stormy green eyes, her slight shoulders straightened and a mantle of dignity,strangely at variance with her childish face and figure, fell upon her.
“i’m sorry you’re hurt, my dear, but i cannot meet governor bullock or any republican or anyscalawag. i will not meet them, in your house or any other house. no, not even if i have to—if ihave to—” melanie cast about her for the worst thing she could think of—“not even if i have to berude.”
“are you criticizing my friends?”
“no, dear. but they are your friends and not mine.”
“are you criticizing me for having the governor at my house?”
cornered, melanie still met scarlett’s eyes unwaveringly.
“darling, what you do, you always do for a good reason and i love you and trust you and it isnot for me to criticize. and i will not permit anyone to criticize you in my hearing. but, oh,scarlett!” suddenly words began to bubble out, swift hot words and there was inflexible hate in thelow voice. “can you forget what these people did to us? can you forget darling charlie dead andashley’s health ruined and twelve oaks burned? oh, scarlett, you can’t forget that terrible manyou shot with your mother’s sewing box in his hands! you can’t forget sherman’s men at tara andhow they even stole our underwear! and tried to burn the place down and actually handled myfather’s sword! oh, scarlett, it was these same people who robbed us and tortured us and left us tostarve that you invited to your party! the same people who have set the darkies up to lord it overus, who are robbing us and keeping out men from voting! i can’t forget. i won’t forget. i won’t letmy beau forget and i’ll teach my grandchildren to hate these people—and my grandchildren’sgrandchildren if god lets me live that long! scarlett, how can you forget?”
melanie paused for breath and scarlett stared at her, startled out of her own anger by thequivering note of violence in melanie’s voice.
“do you think i’m a fool?” she questioned impatiently. “of course, i remember! but all that’spast, melly. it’s up to us to make the best of things and i’m trying to do it. governor bullock andsome of the nicer republicans can help us a lot if we handle them right.”
“there are no nice republicans,” said melanie flatly. “and i don’t want their help. and i don’tintend to make the best of things—if they are yankee things.”
“good heaven, melly, why get in such a pet?”
“oh!” cried melanie, looking conscience stricken. “how i have run on! scarlett i didn’t mean tohurt your feelings or to criticize. everybody thinks differently and everybody’s got a right to theirown opinion. now, dear, i love you and you know i love you and nothing you could ever do wouldmake me change. and you still love me, don’t you? i haven’t made you hate me, have i? scarlett, icouldn’t stand it if anything ever came between us—after all we’ve been through together! say it’sall right.”
“fiddle-dee-dee, melly, what a tempest you make in a teapot,” said scarlett grudgingly, but shedid not throw off the hand that stole around her waist.
“now, we’re all right again,” said melanie pleasedly but she added softly, “i want us to visiteach other just like we always did, darling. just you let me know what days republicans andscalawags are coming to see you and i’ll stay at home on those days.”
“it’s a matter of supreme indifference to me whether you come or not,” said scarlett, putting onher bonnet and going home in a huff. there was some satisfaction to her wounded vanity in thehurt look on melanie’s face.
in the weeks that followed her first party, scarlett was hard put to keep up her pretense ofsupreme indifference to public opinion. when she did not receive calls from old friends, exceptmelanie and pitty and uncle henry and ashley, and did not get cards to their modest entertainments,she was genuinely puzzled and hurt. had she not gone out of her way to bury old hatchetsand show these people that she bore them no ill will for their gossiping and backbiting? surelythey must know that she didn’t like governor bullock any more than they did but that it wasexpedient to be nice to him. the idiots! if everybody would be nice to the republicans, georgiawould get out of the fix she was in very quickly.
she did not realize then that with one stroke she had cut forever any fragile tie that still boundher to the old days, to old friends. not even melanie’s influence could repair the break of thatgossamer thread. and melanie, bewildered, broken hearted but still loyal, did not try to repair it.
even had scarlett wanted to turn back to old ways, old friends, there was no turning back possiblenow. the face of the town was set against her as stonily as granite. the hate that enveloped thebullock regime enveloped her too, a hate that had little fire and fury in it but much coldimplacability. scarlett had cast her lot with the enemy and, whatever her birth and familyconnections, she was now in the category of a turncoat, a nigger lover, a traitor, a republican—anda scalawag.
after a miserable while, scarlett’s pretended indifference gave way to the real thing. she hadnever been one to worry long over the vagaries of human conduct or to be cast down for long ifone line of action failed. soon she did not care what the merriwethers, the elsings, the whitings,the bonnells, the meades and others thought of her. at least, melanie called, bringing ashley, andashley was the one who mattered the most. and there were other people in atlanta who wouldcome to her parties, other people far more congenial than those hide-bound old hens. any time shewanted to fill her house with guests, she could do so and these guests would be far more entertaining,far more handsomely dressed than those prissy, strait-laced old fools who disapproved of her.
these people were newcomers to atlanta. some of them were acquaintances of rhett, someassociated with him in those mysterious affairs which he referred to as “mere business, my pet.”
some were couples scarlett had met when she was living at the national hotel and some weregovernor bullock’s appointees.
the set with which she was now moving was a motley crew. among them were the gelerts whohad lived in a dozen different states and who apparently had left each one hastily upon detection oftheir swindling schemes; the conningtons whose connection with the freedmen’s bureau in adistant state had been highly lucrative at the expense of the ignorant blacks they were supposed toprotect; the deals who had sold “cardboard” shoes to the confederate government until it becamenecessary for them to spend the last year of the war in europe; the hundons who had policerecords in many cities but nevertheless were often successful bidders on state contracts; thecarahans who had gotten their start in a gambling house and now were gambling for bigger stakesin the building of nonexistent railroads with the state’s money; the flahertys who had bought saltat one cent a pound in 1861 and made a fortune when salt went to fifty cents in 1863, and the bartswho had owned the largest brothel in a northern metropolis during the war and now were movingin the best circles of carpetbagger society.
such people were scarlett’s intimates now, but those who attended her larger receptions included others of some culture and refinement, many of excellent families. in addition to thecarpetbag gentry, substantial people from the north were moving into atlanta, attracted by thenever ceasing business activity of the town in this period of rebuilding and expansion. yankeefamilies of wealth sent young sons to the south to pioneer on the new frontier, and yankee officersafter their discharge took up permanent residence in the town they had fought so hard to capture.
at first, strangers in strange town, they were glad to accept invitations to the lavishentertainmentsof the wea(a) lthy and hospitable mrs. butler, but they soon drifted out of her set. theywere good people and they needed only a short acquaintance with carpetbaggers and carpetbagrule to become as resentful of them as the native georgians were. many became democrats andmore southern than the southerners.
other misfits in scarlett’s circle remained there only be-cause they were not welcomeelsewhere. they would have much preferred the quiet parlors of the old guard, but the old guardwould have none of them. among these were the yankee schoolmarms who had come south imbuedwith the desire to uplift the negro and the scalawags who had been born good democrats buthad turned republican after the surrender.
it was hard to say which class was more cordially hated by the settled citizenry, the impracticalyankee schoolmarms or the scalawags, but the balance probably fell with the latter, theschoolmarms could be dismissed with, “well, what can you expect of nigger-loving yankees? ofcourse they think the nigger is just as good as they are!” but for those georgians who had turnedrepublican for personal gain, there was no excuse.
“starving is good enough for us. it ought to be good enough for you,” was the way the oldguard felt. many ex-confederate soldiers, knowing the frantic fear of men who saw their familiesin want, were more tolerant of former comrades who had changed political colors in order thattheir families might eat. but not the women of the old guard, and the women were the implacableand inflexible power behind the social throne. the lost cause was stronger, dearer now in theirhearts than it had ever been at the height of its glory. it was a fetish now. everything about it wassacred, the graves of the men who had died for it, the battle fields, the torn flags, the crossed sabresin their halls, the fading letters from the front, the veterans. these women gave no aid, comfort orquarter to the late enemy, and now scarlett was numbered among the enemy.
in this mongrel society thrown together by the exigencies of the political situation, there was butone thing in common. that was money. as most of them had never had twenty-five dollars at onetime in their whole lives, previous to the war, they were now embarked on an orgy of spendingsuch as atlanta had never seen before.
with the republicans in the political saddle the town entered into era of waste and ostentation,withthetrappingsofrefinementthinlyveneeringtheviceand(an) vulgarity beneath.
never before had the cleavage of the very rich and the very poor been so marked. those on toptook no thought for those less fortunate. except for the negroes, of course. they must have thevery best. the best of schools and lodgings and clothes and amusements, for they were the powerin politics and every negro vote counted. but as for the recently impoverished atlanta people, theycould starve and drop in the streets for all the newly rich republicans cared.
on the crest of this wave of vulgarity, scarlett rode triumphantly, newly a bride, dashingly pretty in her fine clothes, with rhett’s money solidly behind her. it was an era that suited her, crude,garish, showy, full of overdressed women, overfurnished houses, too many jewels, too manyhorses, too much food, too much whisky. when scarlett infrequently stopped to think about thematter she knew that none of her new associates could be called ladies by ellen’s strict standards.
but she had broken with ellen’s standards too many times since that far-away day when she stoodin the parlor at tara and decided to be rhett’s mistress, and she did not often feel the bite of consciencenow.
perhaps these new friends were not, strictly speaking, ladies and gentlemen but like rhett’s neworleans friends, they were so much fun! so very much more fun than the subdued, churchgoing,shakespeare-reading friends of her earlier atlanta days. and, except for her brief honeymooninterlude, she had not had fun in so long. nor had she had any sense of security. now secure, shewanted to dance, to play, to riot, to gorge on foods and fine wine, to deck herself in silks andsatins, to wallow on soft feather beds and fine upholstery. and she did all these things. encouragedby rhett’s amused tolerance, freed now from the restraints of her childhood, freed even from thatlast fear of poverty, she was permitting herself the luxury she had often dreamed—of doing exactlywhat she pleased and telling people who didn’t like it to go to hell.
to her had come that pleasant intoxication peculiar to those whose lives are a deliberate slap inthe face of organized society—the gambler, the confidence man, the polite adventuress, an thosewho succeed by their wits. she said and did exactly what she pleased and, in practically no time,her insolence knew no bounds.
she did not hesitate to display arrogance to her new republican and scalawag friends but to noclass was she ruder or more insolent than the yankee officers of the garrison and their families. ofall the heterogeneous mass of people who had poured into atlanta, the army people alone sherefused to receive or tolerate. she even went out of her way to be bad mannered to them. melaniewas not alone in being unable to forget what a blue uniform meant. to scarlett, that uniform andthose gold buttons would always mean the fears of the siege, the terror of flight, the looting andburning, the desperate poverty and the grinding work at tara. now that she was rich and secure inthe friendship of the governor and many prominent republicans, she could be insulting to everyblue uniform she saw. and she was insulting.
rhett once lazily pointed out to her that most of the male guests who assembled under their roofhad worn that same blue uniform not so long ago, but she retorted that a yankee didn’t seem like ayankee unless he had on a blue uniform. to which rhett replied: “consistency, thou art a jewel,”
and shrugged.
scarlett, hating the bright hard blue they wore, enjoyed snubbing them all the more because it sobewildered them. the garrison families had a right to be bewildered for most of them were quiet,well-bred folk, lonely in a hostile land, anxious to go home to the north, a little ashamed of theriffraff whose rule they were forced to uphold—an infinitely better class than that of scarlett’sassociates. naturally, the officers’ wives were puzzled that the dashing mrs. butler took to herbosom such women as the common red-haired bridget flaherty and went out of her way to slightthem.
but even the ladies whom scarlett took to her bosom had to endure much from her. however, they did it gladly. to them, she not only represented wealth and elegance but the old regime, withits old names, old families, old traditions with which they wished ardently to identify themselves.
the old families they yearned after might have cast scarlett out but the ladies of the newaristocracy did not know it. they only knew that scarlett’s father had been a great slave owner, hermother a robillard of savannah and her husband was rhett butler of charleston. and this wasenough for them. she was their opening wedge into the old society they wished to enter, the societywhich scorned them, would not return calls and bowed frigidly in churches. in fact, she wasmore than their wedge into society. to them, fresh from obscure beginnings, she was society.
pinchbeck ladies themselves, they no more saw through scarlett’s pinchbeck pretensions than sheherself did. they took her at her own valuation and endured much at her hands, her airs, hergraces, her tempers, her arrogance, her downright rudeness and her frankness about theirshortcomings.
they were so lately come from nothing and so uncertain of themselves they were doublyanxious to appear refined and feared to show their temper or make retorts in kind, lest they beconsidered unladylike. at all costs they must be ladies. they pretended to great delicacy, modestyand innocence. to hear them talk one would have thought they had no legs, natural functions orknowledge of the wicked world. no one would have thought that red-haired bridget flaherty, whohad a sun-defying white skin and a brogue that could be cut with a butter knife, had stolen herfather’s hidden hoard to come to america to be chambermaid in a new york hotel. and to observethe delicate vapors of sylvia (formerly sadie belle) connington and mamie bart, no one wouldhave suspected that the first grew up above her father’s saloon in the bowery and waited on the barat rush times, and that the latter, so it was said, had come out of one of her husband’s own brothels.
no, they were delicate sheltered creatures now.
the men, though they had made money, learned new ways less easily or were, perhaps, lesspatient with the demands of the new gentility. they drank heavily at scarlett’s parties, far tooheavily, and usually after a reception there were one or more unexpected guests who stayed thenight. they did not drink like the men of scarlett’s girlhood. they became sodden, stupid, ugly orobscene. moreover, no matter how many spittoons she might put out in view, the rugs alwaysshowed signs of tobacco juice on the mornings after.
she had a contempt for these people but she enjoyed them. because she enjoyed them, she filledthe house with them. and because of her contempt, she told them to go to hell as often as theyannoyed her. but they stood it.
they even stood rhett, a more difficult matter, for rhett saw through them and they knew it. hehad no hesitation about stripping them verbally, even under his own roof, always in a manner thatleft them no reply. unashamed of how he came by his fortune, he pretended that they, too, wereunashamed of their beginnings and he seldom missed an opportunity to remark upon matterswhich, by common consent, everyone felt were better left in polite obscurity.
there was never any knowing when be would remark affably, over a punch cup: “ralph, if i’dhad any sense i’d have made my money selling gold-mine stocks to widows and orphans, like you,instead of blockading. it’s so much safer.” “well, bill, i see you have a new span of horses. beenselling a few thousand more bonds for nonexistent railroads? good work, boy!” “congratulations,amos, on landing that state contract. too bad you had to grease so many palms to get it.”
the ladies felt that he was odiously, unendurably vulgar. the men said, behind his back, that hewas a swine and a bastard. new atlanta liked rhett no better than old atlanta had done and hemade as little attempt to conciliate the one as he had the other. he went his way, amused,contemptuous, impervious to the opinions of those about him, so courteous that his courtesy wasan affront in itself. to scarlett, he was still an enigma but an enigma about which she no longerbothered her head. she was convinced that nothing ever pleased him or ever would please him thathe either wanted something badly and didn’t have it, or never had wanted anything and so didn’tcare about anything. he laughed at everything she did, encouraged her extravagances andinsolences, jeered at her pretenses—and paid the bills.
埃尔辛太太竖起耳朵听了听过道里的动静，她听见媚兰的脚步声逐渐消失在厨里，厨房里碟子和银器的碰撞声说明正在准备点心，她就回过头来悄悄地对在场的几位太太说起话来。当时这几位太太正在客厅里围坐在一起做活，针线筐子就搁在腿上。
“就我个人而言，我现在不想，永远也不想去拜访思嘉，"她说，脸上高傲的神气显得特别冷酷。
联盟赈济孤寡缝纫会的其他面员一听这话，都连忙放下手中的活计，拉了拉摇椅，凑得更近了。这几位太太早就想议论思嘉和瑞德，只是因为媚兰在场，不便开口，就在两天以前，这对夫妇从新奥尔良回来了。现在就住在民族饭店的新婚套间里。
“休说出于礼貌也要去拜访一下，因为巴特勒船长救过他的命，"埃尔辛太太继续说。”可怜的范妮也同意他的意见，说她也要去拜访。我对她说：'范妮，要不是思嘉，托米现在也还活得好好的。你要是拜访，这岂不是对死者的侮辱吗？'范妮没有头脑，竟然说：“我不是去拜访思嘉，我是去拜访巴特勒船长。他为救托米尽了力，没有救成，也不是他的过错过呀。'"“年轻人就是这样糊涂！"梅里韦瑟太太说。"真是的！还要拜访。"她曾劝思嘉不要和瑞德结婚。思嘉对她态度非常粗暴，她想起这件事，气得她那宽厚的胸脯一起一伏。”我们家的梅贝和你们家的范妮一样地糊涂。她说要和雷内一块儿去拜访，因为巴特勒船长出了力。雷内才没有被绞死，我说要不是思嘉出去乱跑，雷内根本就没有危险。梅里韦瑟爷爷也要去拜访他真是老糊涂了，竟然说即便我不去感谢，他也要感谢那个大流氓。我敢说，自从梅里韦瑟爷爷到沃特琳这狗东西那里去了一趟之后，就干起丢人现眼的现来了。还说去拜访呢！真是的！我可不去。思嘉真是作孽竟然嫁给这样一个人。他在战争期间做投机生意，刮我们的钱，让我们挨饿，真是坏透了。现在他又和北方冒险家和投靠北方的南方人勾结在一起，他还是----是那臭名远扬的布洛克州长的朋友呢----。
还说要去拜访，真是的！”
邦内尔太太叹了一口气，她是个皮肤黝黑的胖女人，总是笑眯眯的。
“他们只去拜访一次，为了礼貌嘛，多丽，我不想责怪他们。
听说那天晚上参加活动的人都想去拜访他，我觉得这也是应该的，不知怎的，我总难以想像思嘉是她母亲的孩子。我在萨凡纳和她母亲爱伦·罗毕拉德是同学。当时没有比她更可爱的姑娘了，我跟她也很要好。当时她想嫁给菲利普·罗毕拉德，她父亲要是不反对就好了。其实那孩子也没有什么不好----年轻人难免干些荒唐事，可是后来爱伦就不得不和奥哈拉老头儿逃走了，结了婚，生了思嘉这么一个女儿。真的，看在爱伦的份上，我也得去拜访他们一次。"“婆婆妈妈的，简直是胡扯！"梅里韦瑟太太婆呼呼地说。
“基蒂·邦内尔，丈夫死了刚一年就又嫁人了，这样一个女人，你也要去拜访吗？这个女人----"“肯尼迪先生实际上也是她杀害的，"英迪亚插言说。她的语调冷淡而尖刻。她一想到思嘉，就想起斯图尔特·塔尔顿，就连礼貌也顾不上了。“肯尼迪先生还没死的时候，我就总觉得她和那个叫巴特勒的人有特殊关系，一般人没注意就是了。"几位太太一听这话，特别是听一位老处女说这样一件事，都感到非常惊讶。她们惊魂未定，媚兰就在门口出现了。她们刚才专心致志地在那里叽咕议论，没有听见媚兰轻盈的脚步，现在看见女主人站在面前，她们就像小学生咬耳朵，被老师当场抓住了一样。媚兰的脸色一变，她们不但惊愕，而且害怕了。她生气是理所当然的。她气得满脸通红，温柔的眼睛冒起火来，鼻翅也不停地颤抖。过去谁也没有见媚兰生过气。在场的人谁也没想到她也是会生气的。她们都很喜欢她，但是她们都认为她是一个最温柔最随和的女人，尊敬长辈，从来不谈个人的看法。
“你怎么敢这这样的话，英迪亚？"她用颤抖的声音小声说，"你这样妒忌，会走到哪一步田地呢？真可耻！"英迪亚的脸色变得煞白，头倒还抬得高高的。
“我说的话，决不收回，"她的话很简短，但心情极不平静的。
“我妒忌吗？"她问自己。她想到斯图尔特·塔尔顿，想到霍妮和查尔斯，难道她没有理由妒忌思嘉吗？难道她没有理由恨她吗？特别现在她怀疑思嘉已经设法使艾希礼落入了她的罗网。她想：“关于艾希礼和你那宝贝思嘉，我还有许多话要对你说。"英迪亚一方面想保持沉默，借以保护艾希礼，一方面又想把自己的一切怀疑告诉媚兰，告诉所有的人，借以把艾希礼解脱出来，她还在犹豫不决。她要是一说出来，就会迫使思嘉彻底放弃她对艾希礼的控制。不过现在时机还没有成熟。因为她还没真其实据，只怀疑而已。
“我说过的话，决不收回，"她又重复说。
“那么，值得庆幸的是你不再和我们一起过日子了，"媚兰语气非常冷淡地说。
英迪亚一听这话，马上站起来，发黄的面孔海涨得通红。
“媚兰，你----你是我的嫂子----不会为了这件小事和我争吵吧----"“思嘉还是我的嫂子呢，"媚兰说，她和英迪亚互相瞪着眼，好像陌生人一样。
“而且对我比亲姐妹还要亲。我从她那里得到的好处。你能这么容易就忘了，我可一辈子忘不了。围城的时候，她一直陪着我，而她本来是可以回家去的，当时就连皮蒂姑妈都跑到梅肯去了。北方佬眼看就到亚特兰大了，她还亲自张罗为我接生。而且不辞劳苦地把我和小博送到塔拉，她当时完全可以把我丢在这里的一所医院里，让北方佬把我抓去。她照料我，给我喂饭，而她自己又累又饿。因为我身体不好，又有病，我睡的是塔拉最好的床垫。后来我能走路了，仅有一双像样的鞋也给我穿上。她为我做的这些事，英迪亚，你忘了，我可忘不了。后来艾希礼回来了，生着病，心灰意懒，无家可归，口袋里一文钱也没有，她像姐姐一样收留他。后来我们觉得非去北方不可，而又舍不得离开佐治亚，这时候又是思嘉出来，让他经营木材厂。巴特勒船长还救了艾希礼的命，这也是他的一片好心，人家又不欠艾希礼什么情分。所以感激他们，既感激思嘉又感激巴特勒船长。而你，英迪亚！
你怎么能忘了思嘉对我和艾希礼的好处呢？你怎么能把你哥哥的生命看得无足轻重，反而用恶言中伤救过他命的人呢？你就是在巴特勒船长和思嘉面前下跪，也不为过呀。"“得了，媚兰，"梅里韦瑟太太用尖刻的语调说，这时她的心情已经平静下来。"别这样对英迪亚说这些。"“你说思嘉的那番话，我也听见了，"媚兰说，她转过身来对付这位胖老太太，神气就像一个参加格斗的人，刚从一个倒下的对手身上拔也剑来，又猛烈地朝另一个对刺去。“还有你，埃尔辛太太。你们那些可爱的脑袋瓜里对她是怎么想的，我不管，因为那是你们自己的事。但是你们在我家里议论她，或者让我听见，我就得管。可是你们怎么会有那样可怕的想法呢，而且还说得出来？难道你们的丈夫就那么不值得爱护，你们愿意让他们活着，宁愿让他们死掉。对于救了他们的人，对于冒着生命危险救了他们的人，你们就一点也不感激吗？事实真相要是一暴露，北方佬当时很可能就认为他也是三k党的成员了。那样，他们就会把他绞死。然而他还是冒着生命危险救了你们家里的人。他救了你公公，梅里韦瑟太太，还救了你的女婿和两个侄儿。邦内尔太太，他救了你的兄弟；埃尔辛太太，他还救了你的儿子和女婿。你们这一帮忘恩负义的人！我要求你们每一个人都道歉。"埃尔辛太太站起来，顺手把活计塞到筐里，嘴唇紧闭，显出很坚决的样子。
“真没想到你也这么没有教养，媚兰----我决不道歉。英迪亚说得对。思嘉是个轻浮放荡的女人。我不会忘记在战争期间的所作所为。也不会忘记她有了几个钱之后，做起事来有多么下贱----"“我真正不会忘记的是，"媚兰打断她的话，握起两只小拳头插在腰间，说，“她不让休管木材厂了，因为他太无能。"“媚兰！“大家一起发出了抱怨声。
埃尔辛太太把头一扬，朝门口走去。她抓着门把，停住脚步，转过身来说：“媚兰，”她的语气变得温和了，"亲爱的，这件事让我太伤心了。我是你母亲最要好的朋友，是我帮着米德大夫把你接到这个世界上来的。我把你当自己的孩子一样疼爱。要是为了什么要紧的事，你这样说倒也罢了。可是我样说的是思嘉·奥哈拉这样一个女人，她马上就会坑害你，就像对待我们一样—-"埃尔辛太太开始说这番话时，媚兰的眼睛还有些湿润，等这位老妇人说完，媚兰的脸色反而显得坚定了。
“请各位注意，"她说，"如果谁不拜访思嘉，谁就永远不要再来看我。"大家一听这话，顿时嚷嚷起来，混乱之中，她们站起身来。埃尔辛太太把针线筐往地上一扔，走了回来，假发也歪到一边去了。
“这我不干！"她说。"这我不干。你是发昏了，媚兰，不过我不责怪你。你我仍然是朋友，不能让这件事影响咱们的关系。"她说着说着哭起来。不知怎的，媚兰也在她怀里哭起来了，不过她还抽抽搭搭地说她刚才的话是当真的，还有几位妇女也放声大哭。梅里韦瑟太太一边用手绢语着脸痛哭，一边把埃尔辛太太和媚兰都搂起来了，皮蒂姑妈原来只是呆呆地在一旁看着，这时忽然瘫在地上。她过去也常晕倒，有时是真晕倒，这一次可的确是晕倒了。有人哭泣，有人亲吻，有人忙着找嗅盐，有人跑着去拿白兰地，就在这一片混乱之中，只有一个人脸色沉静，两眼不湿。英迪亚·威尔克斯趁着无人注意，溜走了。
过了几个钟头，梅里韦瑟爷爷在时代少女酒馆见到亨利·汉密尔顿叔叔，就把他从儿媳妇那里听来的上午发生的事，津津有味，一五一十地述说了一遍。现在总算有个人能镇住他那凶狠的儿媳，他自己可没那勇气。
“那么这一伙没有头脑的傻瓜最后打算怎么办呢？"亨利叔叔不耐烦地问。
“我也说不清楚，"梅里韦瑟爷爷说：“不过据我看，这场争论，媚兰没怎么费劲就占了上风。我敢说，她们都会去拜访的，至少也得去一次。你那侄女，大家是很看重的，亨利。"“媚兰是个傻瓜，倒是另外那些女人说得对。思嘉是个滑头女人，不知道查尔斯当时怎么会娶她做老婆，"亨利叔叔闷闷不乐地说。"不过媚兰的话也有一定的道理。巴特勒船长救的所有的人，是应当和家属一起去拜访，要不就太不像话。说实在的，我对巴特勒并不怎么反感。那天晚上他像个男子汉救了我们的命，思嘉才是眼中钉，肉中刺。这个女太聪明，反而害了她自己。反正我是要去拜访他们的。管他是不是投靠了北方佬，思嘉总还是我的侄媳妇。我想今天下午就去拜访他们的。"“我和你一块儿去，亨利。多丽要是听说我去了，非得发疯不可。等我再喝一杯就走。"“别喝了，咱们去喝巴特勒船长的酒吧。说句公道话，他那里总是有好酒喝的。"瑞德早就说那顽固派是不会认输的，他这话还真都说对了。有些人来拜访他们，他知道这是没有什么意义，他也知道他们为什么来看他们。参加三k党那次不成功的行动的人，他们的家属起初是来拜访过，但是很明显，后来就很少来了。而且他们也不邀请瑞德·巴特勒夫妇到他们家里去做客。
瑞德说，这些人要不是怕冒犯媚兰，是不会来看望他们的。他为什么会这么想，思嘉也不知道，只觉得这个想法很无聊，也的确是很无聊。因为思嘉为什么能影响埃尔辛太太和梅里韦瑟太太这样的人呢？他们来过一次就不再来了，思嘉并不怎么在意，其实，她几乎就没有发现，因为他们这套房子里常常挤满了另一种类型的客人。期住在亚特兰大的本地人管他们叫"外来户，"这还不是最客气的称呼呢。
民族饭店里住着很多"外来户"，他们和瑞德和思嘉一样，也是因为自己的房子还没盖好。他们既活跃，又很阔气，很像瑞德在新奥尔良结交的那些朋友。他们的衣服很考究，花起钱来大手大脚，至于来历，就不清楚了。这些人之中，男的都是共和党人，都是"因与州政府有关的公务而到亚特兰大来的。"究竟是什么有关的公务，思嘉既不知道，也不想费心思去了解。
其实瑞德可以把确切的情况告诉她----他们所要干的和秃鹰对快死的动物所要
