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His _expression_, absent, thoughtful,changed to surprise when he saw her standing
there.
They were not the same men with whom he had drunkthe first year they
were married. I believed it long before hepreached on it. Im not afraid of what
people say as long as Im right.
Yes, platitudinously but truly, politics make
strange bedfellows. Somehow, despite what he made from the mill, she and Ashley
neverseemed to have enough money.
You know howthings were before I made my
money!
She felt she would ratherdie than learn that he remembered his
outpourings.
And now, Miss Melly, I come tothe business matter. Scarlett, who
had been rocking and fanning herself with a turkeytail fan, stopped
abruptly.
He sat down heavily and watched her as she picked up her darning.
And
want him to go tothe university and to Harvard and to Europe on a Grand Tour?
Im not afraid of what people say as long as Im right.
I know very well that
JohnnieGallegher has killed at least one man at his camp.
And has anyone
aprettier house than mine or nicer clothes or finer horses?
He wanted to know
if I thought you would sell himyour mill and the part interest you have in his.
It was as though the swift flood of his life had been diverted intoone narrow
channel. Captain Butler was always going off abruptly on journeys.
Something
had upset him, perhaps he had had a small quarrelwith Scarlett and magnified
it. The place was dilapidated and it made you cryto look at it. Only oneacre
was being farmed now where once a hundred had been under theplow.
I can never,
neverhalf repay her for what shes done for me. In an impulsive rush of feeling,
she said: Scarletts lucky tohave a husband whos so nice to her! And besides, Id
have freed them all whenFather died if the war hadnt already freed
them.
Georgia had beenhelpless, tormented, abused, hammered down.
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