And if anything was gone from her,he never missed
it. In childhood days, shehad seen him come and go and never given him a thought.
For how can asilly piece like yourself tell a good man from a
scoundrel?
He tossed the reins of his horse to a small
pickaninny standingnear and started up the steps. And putting spurs to his horse, he
had racedher up the hill to Tara.
That afternoon,Gerald, his resistance worn thin,
had set out to make an offer forDilcey. Gerald OHara was coming home across country
and attop speed. And to anyone with adrop of Irish blood in them the land they live
on is like theirmother. Well, comeon, Puss, lets go in to supper. Gerald had come to
America from Ireland when he was twenty-one.
Surely, thought Scarlett, Pa will know whether this
awful story istrue.
Gerald had come to America from Ireland when he was
twenty-one. Nobody could, not with a mousy little personlike Melanie. He was
courteous always, but aloof, remote. His mother had taught him to read and to write
a clearhand.
And putting spurs to his horse, he had racedher up
the hill to Tara. He hadnt been in Atlanta more than twice since the houseparty he
gave last year at Twelve Oaks. Oh, Pa, she said disgustedly, you talk like an
Irishman!
So now tis you wanting to go in, he observed. Oh,
Pa, she said disgustedly, you talk like an Irishman!
Nobody could, not with a mousy little personlike
Melanie.
But the minutes slipped by and Gerald did notcome.
Gerald looked at her bowed head and shuffled his feet uneasily.