Irritating talk with Grandpa. The old man had remarked that she

must not value his hide very much if she did not feel some

gratitude to Rhett Butler, even if the man was a Scallawag and a

scoundrel.

"He only did that as a dirty trick on us all, Scarlett, to

embarrass us in front of the Yankees," Mrs. Merriwether continued.

"You know as well as I do that the man is a rogue. He always has

been and now he's unspeakable. He is simply not the kind of man

decent people receive."

"No? That's strange, Mrs. Merriwether. He was in your parlor

often enough during the war. And he gave Maybelle her white satin

wedding dress, didn't he? Or is my memory wrong?"

"Things are so different during the war and nice people associated

with many men who were not quite-- It was all for the Cause and

Very proper, too. Surely you can't be thinking of marrying a man

who wasn't in the army, who jeered at men who did enlist?"

"He was, too, in the army. He was in the army eight months. He

was in the last campaign and fought at Franklin and was with

General Johnston when he surrendered."

"I had not heard that," said Mrs. Merriwether and she looked as if

she did not believe it either. "But he wasn't wounded," she added,

triumphantly.

"Lots of men weren't."

"Everybody who was anybody got wounded. _I_ know no one who wasn't

wounded."

Scarlett was goaded.

"Then I guess all the men you knew were such fools they didn't know

when to come in out of a shower of rain--or of minie balls. Now,

let me tell you this, Mrs. Merriwether, and you can take it back to

your busybody friends. I'm going to marry Captain Butler and I

wouldn't care if he'd fought on the Yankee side."

When that worthy matron went out of the house with her bonnet

jerking with rage, Scarlett knew she had an open enemy now instead

of a disapproving friend. But she did not care. Nothing Mrs.

Merriwether could say or do could hurt her. She did not care what

anyone said--anyone except Mammy.

Scarlett had borne with Pitty's swooning at the news and had

steeled herself to see Ashley look suddenly old and avoid her eyes

as he wished her happiness. She had been amused and irritated at

the letters from Aunt Pauline and Aunt Eulalie in Charleston,

horror struck at the news, forbidding the marriage, telling her it

would not only ruin her social position but endanger theirs. She

had even laughed when Melanie with a worried pucker in her brows

said loyally: "Of course, Captain Butler is much nicer than most

people realize and he was so kind and clever, the way he saved

Ashley. And after all, he did fight for the Confederacy. But,

Scarlett, don't you think you'd better not decide so hastily?"

No, she didn't mind what anybody said, except Mammy. Mammy's words

were the ones that made her most angry and brought the greatest

hurt.

"Ah has seed you do a heap of things dat would hu't Miss Ellen, did

she know. An' it has done sorrered me a plen'y. But disyere is de

wust yit. Mahyin' trash! Yas'm, Ah said trash! Doan go tellin'

me he come frum fine folkses. Dat doan mek no diffunce. Trash

come outer de high places, same as de low, and he trash! Yas'm,

Miss Scarlett, Ah's seed you tek Mist' Charles 'way frum Miss Honey

w'en you din' keer nuthin' 'bout him. An' Ah's seed you rob yo own

sister of Mist' Frank. An' Ah's heshed mah mouf 'bout a heap of

things you is done, lak sellin' po' lumber fer good, an' lyin'

'bout de other lumber gempmums, an' ridin' roun' by yo'seff,

exposin' yo'seff ter free issue niggers an' gettin' Mist' Frank

shot, an' not feedin' dem po' convicts nuff ter keep dey souls in

dey bodies. Ah's done heshed mah mouf, even ef Miss Ellen in de

Promise Lan' wuz sayin' 'Mammy, Mammy! You ain' look affer mah

chile right!' Yas'm. Ah's stood fer all dat but Ah ain' gwine

stand fer dis, Miss Scarlett. You kain mahy wid trash. Not w'ile

Ah got breaf in mah body."

"I shall marry whom I please," said Scarlett coldly. "I think you

are forgetting your place, Mammy."

"An' high time, too! Ef Ah doan say dese wuds ter you, who gwine

ter do it?"

"I've been thinking the matter over, Mammy, and I've decided that

the best thing for you to do is to go back to Tara. I'll give you

some money and--"

Mammy drew herself up with all her dignity.

"Ah is free, Miss Scarlett. You kain sen' me nowhar Ah doan wanter

go. An' w'en Ah goes back ter Tara, it's gwine be w'en you goes

wid me. Ah ain' gwine leave Miss Ellen's chile, an' dar ain' no

way in de worl' ter mek me go. An' Ah ain' gwine leave Miss

Ellen's gran'chillun fer no trashy step-pa ter bring up, needer.

Hyah Ah is and hyah Ah stays!"

"I will not have you staying in my house and being rude to Captain

Butler. I am going to marry him and there's no more to be said."

"Dar is plen'y mo' ter be said," retorted Mammy slowly and into her

blurred old eyes there came the light of battle.

"But Ah ain' never thought ter say it ter none of Miss Ellen's

blood. But, Miss Scarlett, lissen ter me. You ain' nuthin' but a

mule in hawse harness. You kin polish a mule's feet an' shine his

hide an' put brass all over his harness an' hitch him ter a fine

cah'ige. But he a mule jes' de same. He doan fool nobody. An'

you is jes' de same. You got silk dresses an' de mills an' de sto'

an' de money, an' you give yo'seff airs lak a fine hawse, but you a

mule jes' de same. An' you ain' foolin' nobody, needer. An' dat

Butler man, he come of good stock and he all slicked up lak a race

hawse, but he a mule in hawse harness, jes' lak you."

Mammy bent a piercing look on her mistress. Scarlett was

speechless and quivering with insult.

"Ef you say you gwine mahy him, you gwine do it, 'cause you is

bullhaided lak yo' pa. But 'member dis, Miss Scarlett, Ah ain'

leavin' you. Ah gwine stay right hyah an' see dis ting thoo."

Without waiting for a reply, Mammy turned and left Scarlett and if

she had said: "Thou shalt see me at Philippi!" her tones would not

have been more ominous.

While they were honeymooning in New Orleans Scarlett told Rhett of

Mammy's words. To her surprise and indignation he laughed at

Mammy's statement about mules in horse harness.

"I have never heard a profound truth expressed so succinctly," he

said. "Mammy's a smart old soul and one of the few people I know

whose respect and good will I'd like to have. But, being a mule, I

suppose I'll never get either from her. She even refused the ten-

dollar gold piece which I, in my groomlike fervor, wished to

present her after the wedding. I've seen so few people who did not

melt at the sight of cash. But she looked me in the eye and

thanked me and said she wasn't a free issue nigger and didn't need

my money."

"Why should she take on so? Why should everybody gabble about me

like a bunch of guinea hens? It's my own affair whom I marry and

how often I marry. I've always minded my own business. Why don't

other people mind theirs?"

"My pet, the world can forgive practically anything except people

who mind their own business. But why should you squall like a

scalded cat? You've said often enough that you didn't mind what

people said about you. Why not prove it? You know you've laid

yourself open to criticism so often in small matters, you can't

expect to escape gossip in this large matter. You knew there'd be

talk if you married a villain like me. If I were a low-bred

poverty-stricken villain, people wouldn't be so mad. But a rich,

flourishing villain--of course, that's unforgivable."

"I wish you'd be serious sometimes!"

"I am serious. It's always annoying to the godly when the ungodly

flourish like the green bay tree. Cheer up, Scarlett, didn't you

tell me once that the main reason you wanted a lot of money was so

you could tell everybody to go to hell? Now's your chance."

"But you were the main one I wanted to tell to go to hell," said

Scarlett, and laughed.

"Do you still want to tell me to go to hell?"

"Well, not as often as I used to."

"Do it whenever you like, if it makes you happy."

"It doesn't make me especially happy," said Scarlett and, bending,

she kissed him carelessly. His dark eyes flickered quickly over

her face, hunting for something in her eyes which he did not find,

and he laughed shortly.

"Forget about Atlanta. Forget about the old cats. I brought you

to New Orleans to have fun and I intend that you shall have it."

Part Five

CHAPTER XLVIII

She did have fun, more fun than she had had since the spring before

the war. New Orleans was such a strange, glamorous place and

Scarlett enjoyed it with the headlong pleasure of a pardoned life

prisoner. The Carpetbaggers were looting the town, many honest

folk were driven from their homes and did not know where to look

for their next meal, and a negro sat in the lieutenant governor's

chair. But the New Orleans Rhett showed her was the gayest place

she had ever seen. The people she met seemed to have all the money

they wanted and no cares at all. Rhett introduced her to dozens of

women, pretty women in bright gowns, women who had soft hands that

showed no signs of hard work, women who laughed at everything and

never talked of stupid serious things or hard times. And the men

she met--how thrilling they were! And how different from Atlanta

men--and how they fought to dance with her, and paid her the most

extravagant compliments as though she were a young belle.

These men had the same hard reckless look Rhett wore. Their eyes

were always alert, like men who have lived too long with danger to

be ever quite careless. They seemed to have no pasts or futures,

and they politely discouraged Scarlett when, to make conversation,

she asked what or where they were before they came to New Orleans.

That, in itself, was strange, for in Atlanta every respectable

newcomer hastened to present his credentials, to tell proudly of

his home and family, to trace the tortuous mazes of relationship

that stretched over the entire South.

But these men were a taciturn lot, picking their words carefully.

Sometimes when Rhett was alone with them and Scarlett in the next

room, she heard laughter and caught fragments of conversation that

meant nothing to her, scraps of words, puzzling names--Cuba and

Nassau in the blockade days, the gold rush and claim jumping, gun

running and filibustering, Nicaragua and William Walker and how he

died against a wall at Truxillo. Once her sudden entrance abruptly

terminated a conversation about what had happened to the members of

Quantrill's band of guerillas, and she caught the names of Frank

and Jesse James.

But they were all well mannered, beautifully tailored, and they

evidently admired her, so it mattered little to Scarlett that they

chose to live utterly in the present. What really mattered was

that they were Rhett's friends and had large houses and fine

carriages, and they took her and Rhett driving, invited them to

suppers, gave parties in their honor. And Scarlett like them very

well. Rhett was amused when she told him so.

"I thought you would," he said and laughed.

"Why not?" her suspicions aroused as always by his laughter.

"They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. They're all

adventurers or Carpetbag aristocrats. They all made their money

speculating in food like your loving husband or out of dubious

government contracts or in shady ways that won't bear