Insolent now. They were stunned, bewildered, afraid. And the

ladies who called on Scarlett said over and over:

"But who would have thought it would turn out this way? We thought

the governor was too powerful. We thought he was here to stay. We

thought--"

Scarlett was equally bewildered by the turn of events, despite

Rhett's warning as to the direction it would take. It was not that

she was sorry Bullock had gone and the Democrats were back again.

Though no one would have believed it she, too, felt a grim

happiness that the Yankee rule was at last thrown off. She

remembered all too vividly her struggles during those first days of

Reconstruction, her fears that the soldiers and the Carpetbaggers

would confiscate her money and her property. She remembered her

helplessness and her panic at her helplessness and her hatred of

the Yankees who had imposed this galling system upon the South.

And she had never stopped hating them. But, in trying to make the

best of things, in trying to obtain complete security, she had gone

with the conquerors. No matter how much she disliked them, she had

surrounded herself with them, cut herself off from her old friends

and her old ways of living. And now the power of the conquerors

was at an end. She had gambled on the continuance of the Bullock

regime and she had lost.

As she looked about her, that Christmas of 1871, the happiest

Christmas the state had known in over ten years, she was disquieted.

She could not help seeing that Rhett, once the most execrated man in

Atlanta, was now one of the most popular, for he had humbly recanted

his Republican heresies and given his time and money and labor and

thought to helping Georgia fight her way back. When he rode down

the streets, smiling, tipping his hat, the small blue bundle that

was Bonnie perched before him on his saddle, everyone smiled back,

spoke with enthusiasm and looked with affection on the little girl.

Whereas, she, Scarlett--

CHAPTER LIX

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Bonnie Butler was running

wild and needed a firm hand but she was so general a favorite that

no one had the heart to attempt the necessary firmness. She had

first gotten out of control the months when she traveled with her

father. When she had been with Rhett in New Orleans and Charleston

she had been permitted to sit up as late as she pleased and had

gone to sleep in his arms in theaters, restaurants and at card

tables. Thereafter, nothing short of force would make her go to

bed at the same time as the obedient Ella. While she had been away

with him, Rhett had let her wear any dress she chose and, since

that time, she had gone into tantrums when Mammy tried to dress her

In dimity frocks and pinafores instead of blue taffeta and lace

collars.

There seemed no way to regain the ground which had been lost when

the child was away from home and later when Scarlett had been ill

and at Tara. As Bonnie grew older Scarlett tried to discipline

her, tried to keep her from becoming too headstrong and spoiled,

but with little success. Rhett always sided with the child, no

matter how foolish her desires or how outrageous her behavior. He

encouraged her to talk and treated her as an adult, listening to

her opinions with apparent seriousness and pretending to be guided

by them. As a result, Bonnie interrupted her elders whenever she

pleased and contradicted her father and put him in his place. He

only laughed and would not permit Scarlett even to slap the little

girl's hand by way of reprimand.

"If she wasn't such a sweet, darling thing, she'd be impossible,"

thought Scarlett ruefully, realizing that she had a child with a

will equal to her own. "She adores Rhett and he could make her

behave better if he wanted to."

But Rhett showed no inclination to make Bonnie behave. Whatever

she did was right and if she wanted the moon she could have it, if

he could reach it for her. His pride in her beauty, her curls, her

dimples, her graceful little gestures was boundless. He loved her

pertness, her high spirits and the quaint sweet manner she had of

showing her love for him. For all her spoiled and willful ways she

was such a lovable child that he lacked the heart to try to curb

her. He was her god, the center of her small world, and that was

too precious for him to risk losing by reprimands.

She clung to him like a shadow. She woke him earlier than he cared

to wake, sat beside him at the table, eating alternately from his

plate and her own, rode in front of him on his horse and permitted

no one but Rhett to undress her and put her to sleep in the small

bed beside his.

It amused and touched Scarlett to see the iron hand with which her

small child ruled her father. Who would have thought that Rhett,

of all people, would take fatherhood so seriously? But sometimes a

dart of jealousy went through Scarlett because Bonnie, at the age

of four, understood Rhett better than she had ever understood him

and could manage him better than she had ever managed him.

When Bonnie was four years old, Mammy began to grumble about the

impropriety of a girl child riding "a-straddle in front of her pa

wid her dress flyin' up." Rhett lent an attentive ear to this

remark, as he did to all Mammy's remarks about the proper raising

of little girls. The result was a small brown and white Shetland

pony with a long silky mane and tail and a tiny sidesaddle with

silver trimmings. Ostensibly the pony was for all three children

and Rhett bought a saddle for Wade too. But Wade infinitely

preferred his St. Bernard dog and Ella was afraid of all animals.

So the pony became Bonnie's own and was named "Mr. Butler." The

only flaw in Bonnie's possessive joy was that she could not still

ride astride like her father, but after he had explained how much

more difficult it was to ride on the sidesaddle, she was content

and learned rapidly. Rhett's pride in her good seat and her good

hands was enormous.

"Wait till she's old enough to hunt," he boasted. "There'll be no

one like her on any field. I'll take her to Virginia then. That's

where the real hunting is. And Kentucky where they appreciate good

riders."

When it came to making her riding habit, as usual she had her

choice of colors and as usual chose blue.

"But, my darling! Not that blue velvet! The blue velvet is for a

party dress for me," laughed Scarlett. "A nice black broadcloth is

what little girls wear." Seeing the small black brows coming

together: "For Heaven's sake, Rhett, tell her how unsuitable it

would be and how dirty it will get."

"Oh, let her have the blue velvet. If it gets dirty, we'll make

her another one," said Rhett easily.

So Bonnie had her blue velvet habit with a skirt that trailed down

the pony's side and a black hat with a red plume in it, because

Aunt Melly's stories of Jeb Stuart's plume had appealed to her