It in the moment of discovery but there was still Ashley left.

There was Ashley who was strong and wise and comforting. In Ashley

and his love lay strength upon which to lay her weakness, courage

to bolster her fear, ease for her sorrow.

He must be in his room, she thought, and tiptoeing down the hall,

she knocked softly. There was no answer, so she pushed the door

open. Ashley was standing in front of the dresser, looking at a

pair of Melanie's mended gloves. First he picked up one and looked

at it, as though he had never seen it before. Then he laid it down

gently, as though it were made of glass, and picked up the other

one.

She said: "Ashley!" in a trembling voice and he turned slowly and

looked at her. The drowsy aloofness had gone from his gray eyes

and they were wide and unmasked. In them she saw fear that matched

her own fear, helplessness weaker than her own, bewilderment more

profound than she would ever know. The feeling of dread which had

possessed her in the hall deepened as she saw his face. She went

toward him.

"I'm frightened," she said. "Oh, Ashley, hold me. I'm so

frightened!"

He made no move to her but stared, gripping the glove tightly in

both hands. She put a hand on his arm and whispered: "What is

it?"

His eyes searched her intently, hunting, hunting desperately for

something he did not find. Finally he spoke and his voice was not

his own.

"I was wanting you," he said. "I was going to run and find you--

run like a child wanting comfort--and I find a child, more

frightened, running to me."

"Not you--you can't be frightened," she cried. "Nothing has ever

frightened you. But I-- You've always been so strong--"

"If I've ever been strong, it was because she was behind me," he

said, his voice breaking, and he looked down at the glove and

smoothed the fingers. "And--and--all the strength I ever had is

going with her."

There was such a note of wild despair in his low voice that she

dropped her hand from his arm and stepped back. And in the heavy

silence that fell between them, she felt that she really understood

him for the first time in her life.

"Why--" she said slowly, "why, Ashley, you love her, don't you?"

He spoke as with an effort.

"She is the only dream I ever had that lived and breathed and did

not die in the face of reality."

"Dreams!" she thought, an old irritation stirring. "Always dreams

with him! Never common sense!"

With a heart that was heavy and a little bitter, she said: "You've

been such a fool, Ashley. Why couldn't you see that she was worth

a million of me?"

"Scarlett, please! If you only knew what I've gone through since

the doctor--"

"What you've gone through! Don't you think that I-- Oh, Ashley,

you should have known, years ago, that you loved her and not me!

Why didn't you! Everything would have been so different, so-- Oh,

you should have realized and not kept me dangling with all your

talk about honor and sacrifice! If you'd told me, years ago, I'd

have-- It would have killed me but I could have stood it somehow.

But you wait till now, till Melly's dying, to find it out and now