Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell - Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3

He suddenly burst into laughter.

«I’m not afraid», she said.

Melanie lay quietly. Her face was deathly white.

«We are going home, to Tara», Scarlett explained rapidly. «The Yankees are coming. Rhett is going to take us. It’s the only way, Melly».

With all the speed the horse could summon, they jolted and bounced across the street. As they dashed down the street and bumped over the railroad tracks, Rhett applied the whip automatically. His face looked set and absent.

They pulled into a side street, then another, then turned and twisted from one narrow street to another. Still Rhett did not speak. The red glow in the sky was fading now and the road became dark and frightening. But he did not speak.

Scarlett thanked Heaven. It was so good to have a man beside her.

«Oh, Rhett», she whispered, «what would we do without you? I’m so glad you aren’t in the army!»

Finally Rhett turned the horse right and after a while they were on a wider, smoother road.

«We’re out of town now», said Rhett briefly, «and on the main road to Rough and Ready».

«Hurry. Don’t stop!»

«Let the animal breathe a bit». Then turning to her, he asked slowly: «Scarlett, do you still want to try to get through to Tara? It’s suicidal. Steve Lee’s cavalry and the Yankee Army are between you and Tara».

They left the wagon.

«Oh, yes! Yes! Please, Rhett, let’s hurry. The horse isn’t tired».

«Just a minute. You can’t go down to Jonesboro on this road. You can’t follow the train tracks. Do you know any other roads don’t go through Rough and Ready or Jonesboro?»

«Oh, yes», cried Scarlett in relief. «I know a wagon trace. Pa and I used to ride it. It is only a mile from Tara».

«Good. Maybe you can get through there».

«I can get through?»

«Yes, you». His voice was rough.

«But Rhett… And you?»

«No. I’m leaving you here».

She looked around wildly. Had she gone crazy? Was she not hearing right?

He was grinning now. She could just see his white teeth.

«Leaving us? Where… where are you going?»

«I am going, dear girl, with the army».

She sighed with relief and irritation. Why did he joke at this time? Rhett in the army!

«Don’t joke! Let’s get on».

«I’m not joking, my dear. Scarlett, where is your patriotism, your love for Our Glorious Cause?».

He was jeering at her and, somehow, she knew he was jeering at himself too. What was he talking about? Patriotism? It wasn’t possible that he meant what he was saying.

«Rhett, you are joking!»

She grabbed his arm. He raised her hand and kissed it arily.

«Oh, Rhett», she wailed, «how can you do this to me? Why are you leaving me?»

«Why?» he laughed jauntily. «Because, perhaps, of the sentimentality that lurks in all of us Southerners. Perhaps… perhaps because I am ashamed. Who knows? I’m off to the wars».

He kissed her and his mustache tickled her mouth. Charles had never kissed her like this. He bent her body backward and his lips traveled down her throat.

«Sweet», he whispered. «Sweet».

«Oh, you cad!» she cried. «You low-down, cowardly, nasty, stinking man!»

«Ah», he said quietly.

«They were right! Everybody was right! You aren’t a gentleman!»

«My dear girl», he said, «how inadequate».

She knew he was laughing.

«Go on! Go on now! I want you to hurry. I don’t want to ever see you again!»

«Good-bye, Scarlett».

He was gone. She could hear the sound of his feet for a while and then they died away. She came slowly back to the wagon.

The bright morning sunlight awakened Scarlett. For a moment, she could not remember where she was. The sun blinded her. She tried to sit up. Wade lay sleeping with his head on her knees. Melanie’s bare feet were almost in her face and, under the wagon seat, Prissy was curled up like a black cat with the small baby between her and Wade.

Then she remembered everything. She looked hastily all around. Thank God, no Yankees in sight!

When, at last, they had neared Rough and Ready, a few camp fires were gleaming. She had circled through a plowed field for a mile. And then she had lost her way in the darkness and sobbed. The horse fell down and refused to move, refused to rise.

She looked down at Melanie and saw that her dark eyes were opened. They were sick eyes. She opened her lips and whispered appealingly: «Water».

«Get up, Prissy», ordered Scarlett. «We’ll go to the well and get some water. Get out of this wagon».

Scarlett ran around the wagon. The horse was lying on the ground. But the horse was alive. Breathing heavily, sick eyes half closed, but alive.

Why hadn’t she brought her sun hat? Why hadn’t she brought something to eat? She’d acted like a fool.

Rhett! How she hated him! How contemptible he had been! And she had stood there in the road and let him kiss her… and almost liked it. She had been crazy last night. How despicable he was!

She gathered some apples and divided them up and threw the rest into the back of the wagon. The horse raised. But he looked far worse in the daylight than he had the night before. He walked very slowly. Oh, if only she didn’t have Melanie and Wade and the baby and Prissy to bother with! How swiftly she could walk home!

They couldn’t be more than fifteen miles from home. She looked back at Melanie who lay with sick eyes closed against the sun.

Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?

There was death in the air. The countryside lay as under some dread enchantment. Scarlett felt that the familiar woods were full of ghosts. Thousands had died in the fighting near Jonesboro. They were here in these haunted woods.

«Mother! Mother!» she whispered. Mother would know what to do. She wouldn’t let Melanie and her baby die. She would drive away all ghosts and fears. But Mother was ill, perhaps dying.

Why was she dragging Melanie and her child? Why did not die in Atlanta?

But Ashley had left Melanie in her care. «Take care of her». Oh, that beautiful day when he had kissed her good-bye before he went away forever! «You’ll take care of her, won’t you? Promise!» And she had promised.

Oh, Ashley! Where was he tonight while she was with his wife and baby? Was he alive? Or was he dead of smallpox months ago?

A sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. Prissy screamed loudly.

«It’s only a cow», said Scarlett. «Don’t be a fool, Prissy. You’ve frightened Miss Melly and Wade».

«It’s a ghost», moaned Prissy.

«Sit up, you fool», said Scarlett.

It was, indeed, a cow, a red and white animal which stood looking at them appealingly with large frightened eyes.

«We’ll take it with us», Scarlett decided swiftly. «Then we can have some milk for the baby».

«How will we take the cow, Miss Scarlett? We can take no cow with us».

«Take off your petticoat and tear it up and tie her to the back of the wagon».

«Miss Scarlett, you know, I have no petticoat. And I’m scared of cows».

Scarlett pulled up her skirt. She untied the waist tape and slipped it down over her feet. Resolutely she put it in her mouth and gnawed. She gnawed furiously, tore with both hands and the petticoat lay in strips in her hands. She knotted the ends with fingers that bled from blisters and shook from fatigue.

«Slip this over her horns», she directed. But Prissy balked.

«I’m scared of cows, Miss Scarlett. I’m no yard nigger. I’m a house nigger».

«You’re a fool nigger», said Scarlett slowly, too tired for anger.

Scarlett climbed down from the seat. Prissy was not the only one who was «scared» of cows. Scarlett had always feared them, even the mildest cow seemed sinister to her. Fortunately the cow was gentle. She looped one end of the torn petticoat about its horns. She tied the other end to the back of the wagon.