Indiscretion of tongue or eye. With old gentlemen, a girl was

pert and saucy and almost, but not quite, flirtatious, so that the

old fools' vanities would be tickled. It made them feel devilish

and young and they pinched your cheek and declared you were a

minx. And, of course, you always blushed on such occasions,

otherwise they would pinch you with more pleasure than was proper

and then tell their sons that you were fast.

With young girls and young married women, you slopped over with

sugar and kissed them every time you met them, even if it was ten

times a day. And you put your arms about their waists and

suffered them to do the same to you, no matter how much you

disliked it. You admired their frocks or their babies

Indiscriminately and teased about beaux and complimented husbands

and giggled modestly and denied that you had any charms at all

compared with theirs. And, above all, you never said what you

really thought about anything, any more than they said what they

really thought.

Other women's husbands you let severely alone, even if they were

your own discarded beaux, and no matter how temptingly attractive

they were. If you were too nice to young husbands, their wives

said you were fast and you got a bad reputation and never caught

any beaux of your own.

But with young bachelors--ah, that was a different matter! You

could laugh softly at them and when they came flying to see why

you laughed, you could refuse to tell them and laugh harder and

keep them around indefinitely trying to find out. You could

promise, with your eyes, any number of exciting things that would

make a man maneuver to get you alone. And, having gotten you

alone, you could be very, very hurt or very, very angry when he

tried to kiss you. You could make him apologize for being a cur

and forgive him so sweetly that he would hang around trying to

kiss you a second time. Sometimes, but not often, you did let him

kiss you. (Ellen and Mammy had not taught her that but she

learned it was effective.) Then you cried and declared you didn't

know what had come over you and that he couldn't ever respect you

again. Then he had to dry your eyes and usually he proposed, to

show just how much he did respect you. And then there were-- Oh,

there were so many things to do to bachelors and she knew them

all, the nuance of the sidelong glance, the half-smile behind the

fan, the swaying of the hips so that skirts swung like a bell, the

tears, the laughter, the flattery, the sweet sympathy. Oh, all

the tricks that never failed to work--except with Ashley.

No, it didn't seem right to learn all these smart tricks, use them

so briefly and then put them away forever. How wonderful it would

be never to marry but to go on being lovely in pale green dresses

and forever courted by handsome men. But, if you went on too

long, you got to be an old maid like India Wilkes and everyone

said "poor thing" in that smug hateful way. No, after all it was

better to marry and keep your self-respect even if you never had

any more fun.

Oh, what a mess life was! Why had she been such an idiot as to

marry Charles of all people and have her life end at sixteen?

Her indignant and hopeless reverie was broken when the crowd began

pushing back against the walls, the ladies carefully holding their

hoops so that no careless contact should turn them up against

their bodies and show more pantalets than was proper. Scarlett

tiptoed above the crowd and saw the captain of the militia

mounting the orchestra platform. He shouted orders and half of

the Company fell into line. For a few minutes they went through a

brisk drill that brought perspiration to their foreheads and

cheers and applause from the audience. Scarlett clapped her hands

dutifully with the rest and, as the soldiers pushed forward toward

the punch and lemonade booths after they were dismissed, she

turned to Melanie, feeling that she had better begin her deception

about the Cause as soon as possible.

"They looked fine, didn't they?" she said.

Melanie was fussing about with the knitted things on the counter.

"Most of them would look a lot finer in gray uniforms and in