Indirection, hints and feminine angling. He had a disconcerting

habit of seeing through her and laughing rudely.

Contemplating the suave indifference with which he generally

treated her, Scarlett frequently wondered, but with no real

curiosity, why he had married her. Men married for love or a home

and children or money but she knew he had married her for none of

these things. He certainly did not love her. He referred to her

lovely house as an architectural horror and said he would rather

live in a well-regulated hotel than a home. And he never once

hinted about children as Charles and Frank had done. Once when

trying to coquet with him she asked why he married her and was

Infuriated when he replied with an amused gleam in his eyes: "I

married you to keep you for a pet, my dear."

No, he hadn't married her for any of the usual reasons men marry

women. He had married her solely because he wanted her and

couldn't get her any other way. He had admitted as much the night

he proposed to her. He had wanted her, just as he had wanted Belle

Watling. This was not a pleasant thought. In fact, it was a

barefaced insult. But she shrugged it off as she had learned to

shrug off all unpleasant facts. They had made a bargain and she

was quite pleased with her side of the bargain. She hoped he was

equally pleased but she did not care very much whether he was or

not.

But one afternoon when she was consulting Dr. Meade about a

digestive upset, she learned an unpleasant fact which she could not

shrug off. It was with real hate in her eyes that she stormed into

her bedroom at twilight and told Rhett that she was going to have a

baby.

He was lounging in a silk dressing gown in a cloud of smoke and his

eyes went sharply to her face as she spoke. But he said nothing.

He watched her in silence but there was a tenseness about his pose,

as he waited for her next words, that was lost on her. Indignation

and despair had claimed her to the exclusion of all other thoughts.

"You know I don't want any more children! I never wanted any at

all. Every time things are going right with me I have to have a

baby. Oh, don't sit there and laugh! You don't want it either.

Oh, Mother of God!"

If he was waiting for words from her, these were not the words he

wanted. His face hardened slightly and his eyes became blank.

"Well, why not give it to Miss Melly? Didn't you tell me she was

so misguided as to want another baby?"

"Oh, I could kill you! I won't have it, I tell you, I won't!"

"No? Pray continue."

"Oh, there are things to do. I'm not the stupid country fool I

used to be. Now, I know that a woman doesn't have to have children

if she doesn't want them! There are things--"

He was on his feet and had her by the wrist and there was a hard,

driving fear in his face.

"Scarlett, you fool, tell me the truth! You haven't done anything?"

"No, I haven't, but I'm going to. Do you think I'm going to have

my figure ruined all over again, just when I've gotten my waist

line down and am having a good time."

"Where did you get this idea? Who's been telling you things?"

"Mamie Bart--she--"

"The madam of a whore house would know such tricks. That woman

never puts foot in this house again, do you understand? After all,

it is my house and I'm the master of it. I do not even want you to

speak to her again."

"I'll do as I please. Turn me loose. Why should you care?"

"I don't care whether you have one child or twenty, but I do care

if you die."

"Die? Me?"

"Yes, die. I don't suppose Mamie Bart told you the chances a woman

takes when she does a thing like that?"

"No," said Scarlett reluctantly. "She just said it would fix

things up fine."

"By God, I will kill her!" cried Rhett and his face was black with

rage. He looked down into Scarlett's tear-stained face and some of

the wrath faded but it was still hard and set. Suddenly he picked

her up in his arms and sat down in the chair, holding her close to

him, tightly, as if he feared she would get away from him.

"Listen, my baby, I won't have you take your life in your hands.

Do you hear? Good God, I don't want children any more than you do,

but I can support them. I don't want to hear any more foolishness

out of you, and if you dare try to--Scarlett, I saw a girl die that

way once. She was only a--well, but she was a pretty sort at that.

It's not an easy way to die. I--"

"Why, Rhett!" she cried, startled out of her misery at the emotion

in his voice. She had never seen him so moved. "Where--who--"

"In New Orleans--oh, years ago. I was young and impressionable."

He bent his head suddenly and buried his lips in her hair. "You'll

have your baby, Scarlett, if I have to handcuff you to my wrist for

the next nine months."

She sat up in his lap and stared into his face with frank curiosity.

Under her gaze it was suddenly smooth and bland as though wiped

clear by magic. His eyebrows were up and the corner of his mouth

was down.

"Do I mean so much to you?" she questioned, dropping her eyelids.

He gave her a level look as though estimating how much coquetry was

behind the question. Reading the true meaning of her demeanor, he

made casual answer.

"Well, yes. You see, I've invested a good deal of money in you,

and I'd hate to lose it."

* * * * *

Melanie came out of Scarlett's room, weary from the strain but

happy to tears at the birth of Scarlett's daughter. Rhett stood

tensely in the hall, surrounded by cigar butts which had burned

holes in the fine carpet.

"You can go in now, Captain Butler," she said shyly.

Rhett went swiftly past her into the room and Melanie had a brief

glimpse of him bending over the small naked baby in Mammy's lap

before Dr. Meade shut the door. Melanie sank into a chair, her

face pinkening with embarrassment that she had unintentionally

witnessed so intimate a scene.

"Ah!" she thought. "How sweet! How worried poor Captain Butler

has been! And he did not take a single drink all this time! How

nice of him. So many gentlemen are so intoxicated by the time

their babies are born. I fear he needs a drink badly. Dare I

suggest it? No, that would be very forward of me."

She sank gratefully into a chair, her back, which always ached

these days, feeling as though it would break in two at the waist

line. Oh, how fortunate Scarlett was to have Captain Butler just

outside her door while the baby was being born! If only she had

had Ashley with her that dreadful day Beau came she would not have

suffered half so much. If only that small girl behind those closed

doors were hers and not Scarlett's! Oh, how wicked I am, she

thought guiltily. I am coveting her baby and Scarlett has been so

good to me. Forgive me, Lord. I wouldn't really want Scarlett's

baby but--but I would so like a baby of my own!

She pushed a small cushion behind her aching back and thought

hungrily of a daughter of her own. But Dr. Meade had never changed

his opinion on that subject. And though she was quite willing to

risk her life for another child, Ashley would not hear of it. A

daughter. How Ashley would love a daughter!

A daughter! Mercy! She sat up in alarm. I never told Captain

Butler it was a girl! And of course he was expecting a boy. Oh,

how dreadful!

Melanie knew that to a woman a child of either sex was equally

welcome but to a man, and especially such a self-willed man as

Captain Butler, a girl would be a blow, a reflection upon his

manhood. Oh, how thankful she was that God had permitted her only

child to be a boy! She knew that, had she been the wife of the

fearsome Captain Butler, she would have thankfully died in

childbirth rather than present him with a daughter as his first-

born.

But Mammy, waddling grinning from the room, set her mind at ease--

and at the same time made her wonder just what kind of man Captain

Butler really was.

"W'en Ah wuz bathin' dat chile jes' now," said Mammy, "Ah kinder

'pologized ter Mist' Rhett 'bout it not bein' a boy. But, Lawd,

Miss Melly, you know whut he say? He say, 'Hesh yo' mouf, Mammy!

Who want a boy? Boys ain' no fun. Dey's jes' a passel of trouble.

Gals is whut is fun. Ah wouldn' swap disyere gal fer a baker's

dozen of boys.' Den he try ter snatch de chile frum me, buck

nekked as she wuz an' Ah slap his wrist an' say 'B'have yo'seff,

Mist' Rhett! Ah'll jes' bide mah time tell you gits a boy, an' den

Ah'll laff out loud to hear you holler fer joy.' He grin an' shake

his haid an' say, 'Mammy, you is a fool. Boys ain' no use ter

nobody. Ain' Ah a proof of dat?' Yas'm, Miss Melly, he ack lak a

gempmum 'bout it," finished Mammy graciously. It was not lost on

Melanie that Rhett's conduct had gone far toward redeeming him in

Mammy's eyes. "Maybe Ah done been a mite wrong 'bout Mist' Rhett.

Dis sho is a happy day ter me, Miss Melly. Ah done diapered three

ginrations of Robillard gals, an' it sho is a happy day."

"Oh, yes, it is a happy day, Mammy. The happiest days are the days

when babies come!"

To one person in the house it was not a happy day. Scolded and for

the most part ignored, Wade Hampton idled miserably about the

dining room. Early that morning, Mammy had waked him abruptly,

dressed him hurriedly and sent him with Ella to Aunt Pitty's house

for breakfast. The only explanation he received was that his

mother was sick and the noise of his playing might upset her. Aunt

Pitty's house was in an uproar, for the news of Scarlett's sickness

had sent the old lady to bed in a state with Cookie in attendance,

and breakfast was a scant meal that Peter concocted for the

children. As the morning wore on fear began to possess Wade's

soul. Suppose Mother died? Other boys' mothers had died. He had

seen the hearses move away from the house and heard his small

friends sobbing. Suppose Mother should die? Wade loved his mother