It was made of angels' wings. I'll buy Mammy some red taffeta and

have an elegant petticoat made."

"She won't take it from you. She'd die rather than wear it."

"I don't doubt it. But I'll make the gesture just the same."

The shops of New Orleans were so rich and exciting and shopping

with Rhett was an adventure. Dining with him was an adventure too,

and one more thrilling than shopping, for he knew what to order and

how it should be cooked. The wines and liqueurs and champagnes of

New Orleans were new and exhilarating to her, acquainted with only

homemade blackberry and scuppernong vintages and Aunt Pitty's

"swoon" brandy; but oh, the food Rhett ordered! Best of all things

in New Orleans was the food. Remembering the bitter hungry days at

Tara and her more recent penury, Scarlett felt that she could never

eat enough of these rich dishes. Gumboes and shrimp Creole, doves

in wine and oysters in crumbly patties full of creamy sauce,

mushrooms and sweetbreads and turkey livers, fish baked cunningly

in oiled paper and limes. Her appetite never dulled, for whenever

she remembered the everlasting goobers and dried peas and sweet

potatoes at Tara, she felt an urge to gorge herself anew of Creole

dishes.

"You eat as though each meal were your last," said Rhett. "Don't

scrape the plate, Scarlett. I'm sure there's more in the kitchen.

You have only to ask the waiter. If you don't stop being such a

glutton, you'll be as fat as the Cuban ladies and then I shall

divorce you."

But she only put out her tongue at him and ordered another pastry,

thick with chocolate and stuffed with meringue.

What fun it was to be able to spend as much money as you liked and

not count pennies and feel that you should save them to pay taxes

or buy mules. What fun to be with people who were gay and rich and

not genteelly poor like Atlanta people. What fun to wear rustling

brocade dresses that showed your waist and all your neck and arms

and more than a little of your breast and know that men were

admiring you. And what fun to eat all you wanted without having

censorious people say you weren't ladylike. And what fun to drink

all the champagne you pleased. The first time she drank too much,

she was embarrassed when she awoke the next morning with a

splitting headache and an awful memory of singing "Bonnie Blue

Flag" all the way back to the hotel, through the streets of New

Orleans, in an open carriage. She had never seen a lady even

tipsy, and the only drunken woman she had ever seen had been that

Watling creature on the day when Atlanta fell. She hardly knew how

to face Rhett, so great was her humiliation, but the affair seemed

only to amuse him. Everything she did seemed to amuse him, as

though she were a gamboling kitten.

It was exciting to go out with him for he was so handsome. Somehow

she had never given his looks a thought before, and in Atlanta

everyone had been too preoccupied with his shortcomings ever to

talk about his appearance. But here in New Orleans she could see

how the eyes of other women followed him and how they fluttered

when he bent over their hands. The realization that other women

were attracted by her husband, and perhaps envied her, made her

suddenly proud to be seen by his side.

"Why, we're a handsome people," thought Scarlett with pleasure.

Yes, as Rhett had prophesied, marriage could be a lot of fun. Not

only was it fun but she was learning many things. That was odd in