Idly, as there were in Belle Watling's establishment. Interspread

were steel engravings in heavy frames, some of them eight feet

long, which Scarlett had ordered especially from New York. The

walls were covered with rich dark paper, the ceilings were high and

the house was always dim, for the windows were overdraped with

plum-colored plush 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 soft carpets and sinking into the embrace

of the deep feather beds, remembered the cold floors and the straw-

stuffed bedticks of Tara and was satisfied. She thought it the

most beautiful and most elegantly furnished house she had ever

seen, but Rhett said it was a nightmare. However, if it made her

happy, she was welcome to it.

"A stranger without being told a word about us would know this

house was built with ill-gotten gains," he said. "You know,

Scarlett, money ill come by never comes to good and this house is

proof 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 would give 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 whenever he could, if she lent an attentive ear

to his jibes. Should she take him seriously, she would be forced

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 to turn

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 had lived together with amiability. But

scarcely had they moved into the new house and Scarlett gathered

her new friends about her, when sudden sharp quarrels sprang up

between them. They were brief quarrels, short lived because it was

impossible to keep a quarrel going with Rhett, who remained coolly

indifferent to her hot words and waited his chance to pink her in

an unguarded spot. 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 no longer ignore them and treat them as jokes.

For instance when she decided to change the name of "Kennedy's

General Store" to something more edifying, she asked him to think

of a title that would include the word "emporium." Rhett suggested

"Caveat Emptorium," assuring her that it would be a title most in

keeping with the type of goods sold in the store. She thought it

had an imposing sound and even went so far as to have the sign

painted, when Ashley Wilkes, embarrassed, translated the real

meaning. And Rhett had roared at her rage.

And there was the way he treated Mammy. Mammy had never yielded an

Inch from her stand that 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 her with the red petticoat and she never wore it

either. She kept Ella and Wade out of Rhett's way whenever she

could, despite the fact that Wade adored Uncle Rhett and Rhett was

obviously fond of the boy. But instead of discharging Mammy or

being short and stern with her, Rhett treated her with the utmost

deference, with far more courtesy than he treated any of the ladies

of Scarlett's recent acquaintance. In fact, with more courtesy

than he treated Scarlett herself. He always asked Mammy's

permission to take Wade riding and consulted with her before he

bought Ella dolls. And Mammy was hardly polite to him.

Scarlett felt that Rhett should be firm with Mammy, as became the

head of the house, but Rhett only laughed and said that Mammy was

the real head of the house.

He infuriated Scarlett by saying coolly that he was preparing to be