In this grown-up ceremony diverted him.

"Oh, I can't, Uncle Rhett! I promised Aunt Melly I wouldn't drink

till I graduated from the university and she's going to give me a

watch, if I don't."

"And I'll give you a chain for it--this one I'm wearing now, if you

want it," said Rhett and he was smiling again. "Aunt Melly's quite

right. But she was talking about spirits, not wine. You must

learn to drink wine like a gentleman, son, and there's no time like

the present to learn."

Skillfully, he diluted the claret with water from the carafe until

the liquid was barely pink and handed the glass to Wade. At that

moment, Mammy entered the dining room. She had changed to her best

Sunday black and her apron and head rag were fresh and crisp. As

she waddled, she switched herself and from her skirts came the

whisper and rustle of silk. The worried look had gone from her

face and her almost toothless gums showed in a wide smile.

"Burfday gif', Mist' Rhett!" she said.

Wade stopped with his glass at his lips. He knew Mammy had never

liked his stepfather. He had never heard her call him anything

except "Cap'n Butler," and her conduct toward him had been

dignified but cold. And here she was beaming and sidling and

calling him "Mist' Rhett!" What a topsy-turvy day!

"You'd rather have rum than claret, I suppose," said Rhett, reaching

Into the cellaret and producing a squat bottle. "She is a beautiful

baby, isn't she, Mammy?"

"She sho is," answered Mammy, smacking her lips as she took the

glass.

"Did you ever see a prettier one?"

"Well, suh, Miss Scarlett wuz mout nigh as pretty w'en she come but

not quite."

"Have another glass, Mammy. And Mammy," his tone was stern but his

eyes twinkled, "what's that rustling noise I hear?"

"Lawd, Mist' Rhett, dat ain' nuthin' but mah red silk petticoat!"

Mammy giggled and switched till her huge bulk shook.

"Nothing but your petticoat! I don't believe it. You sound like a

peck of dried leaves rubbing together. Let me see. Pull up your

skirt."

"Mist' Rhett, you is bad! Yeah-O, Lawd!"

Mammy gave a little shriek and retreated and from a distance of a

yard, modestly elevated her dress a few inches and showed the

ruffle of a red taffeta petticoat.

"You took long enough about wearing it," grumbled Rhett but his

black eyes laughed and danced.

"Yassuh, too long."

Then Rhett said something that Wade did not understand.

"No more mule in horse harness?"

"Mist' Rhett, Miss Scarlett wuz bad ter tell you dat! You ain'

holin' dat again' dis ole nigger?"

"No. I'm not holding it. I just wanted to know. Have another

drink, Mammy. Have the whole bottle. Drink up, Wade! Give us a

toast."

"To Sissy," cried Wade and gulped the liquid down. Choking he

began to cough and hiccough and the other two laughed and beat him

on the back.

From the moment his daughter was born, Rhett's conduct was puzzling

to all observers and he upset many settled notions about himself,

notions which both the town and Scarlett were loath to surrender.

Whoever would have thought that he of all people would be so

shamelessly, so openly proud of fatherhood? Especially in view of

the embarrassing circumstance that his first-born was a girl and

not a boy.

The novelty of fatherhood did not wear off. This caused some

secret envy among women whose husbands took offspring for granted,

long before the children were christened. He buttonholed people on

the street and related details of his child's miraculous progress

without even prefacing his remarks with the hypocritical but

polite: "I know everyone thinks their own child is smart but--"

He thought his daughter marvelous, not to be compared with lesser

brats, and he did not care who knew it. When the new nurse

permitted the baby to suck a bit of fat pork, thereby bringing on

the first attack of colic, Rhett's conduct sent seasoned fathers

and mothers into gales of laughter. He hurriedly summoned Dr.

Meade and two other doctors, and with difficulty he was restrained

from beating the unfortunate nurse with his crop. The nurse was

discharged and thereafter followed a series of nurses who remained,

at the most, a week. None of them was good enough to satisfy the

exacting requirements Rhett laid down.

Mammy likewise viewed with displeasure the nurses that came and

went, for she was jealous of any strange negro and saw no reason

why she could not care for the baby and Wade and Ella, too. But

Mammy was showing her age and rheumatism was slowing her lumbering

tread. Rhett lacked the courage to cite these reasons for

employing another nurse. He told her instead that a man of his

position could not afford to have only one nurse. It did not look

well. He would hire two others to do the drudgery and leave her as

Mammy-in-chief. This Mammy understood very well. More servants

were a credit to her position as well as Rhett's. But she would

not, she told him firmly, have any trashy free issue niggers in

her nursery. So Rhett sent to Tara for Prissy. He knew her

shortcomings but, after all, she was a family darky. And Uncle

Peter produced a great-niece named Lou who had belonged to one of

Miss Pitty's Burr cousins.

Even before Scarlett was able to be about again, she noticed

Rhett's pre-occupation with the baby and was somewhat nettled and

embarrassed at his pride in her in front of callers. It was all