Infuriated at Gerald for putting her in a position where this man

could laugh at her.

Rhett propelled Gerald forward. "Shall I help you take him

upstairs? You cannot manage him. He's quite heavy."

Her mouth fell open with horror at the audacity of his proposal.

Just imagine what Pittypat and Melly cowering in their beds would

think, should Captain Butler come upstairs!

"Mother of God, no! In here, in the parlor on that settee."

"The suttee, did you say?"

"I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head. Here. Now

lay him down."

"Shall I take off his boots?"

"No. He's slept in them before."

She could have bitten off her tongue for that slip, for he laughed

softly as he crossed Gerald's legs.

"Please go, now."

He walked out into the dim hall and picked up the hat he had

dropped on the doorsill.

"I will be seeing you Sunday at dinner," he said and went out,

closing the door noiselessly behind him.

Scarlett arose at five-thirty, before the servants had come in

from the back yard to start breakfast, and slipped down the steps

to the quiet lower floor. Gerald was awake, sitting on the sofa,

his hands gripping his bullet head as if he wished to crush it

between his palms. He looked up furtively as she entered. The

pain of moving his eyes was too excruciating to be borne and he

groaned.

"Wurra the day!"

"It's a fine way you've acted, Pa," she began in a furious

whisper. "Coming home at such an hour and waking all the

neighbors with your singing."

"I sang?"

"Sang! You woke the echoes singing the 'Lament.'"

"'Tis nothing I'm remembering."

"The neighbors will remember it till their dying day and so will

Miss Pittypat and Melanie."

"Mother of Sorrows," moaned Gerald, moving a thickly furred tongue

around parched lips. "'Tis little I'm remembering after the game

started."

"Game?"

"That laddybuck Butler bragged that he was the best poker player

in--"

"How much did you lose?"

"Why, I won, naturally. A drink or two helps me game."

"Look in your wallet."

As if every movement was agony, Gerald removed his wallet from his

coat and opened it. It was empty and he looked at it in forlorn

bewilderment.

"Five hundred dollars," he said. "And 'twas to buy things from

the blockaders for Mrs. O'Hara, and now not even fare left to

Tara."

As she looked indignantly at the empty purse, an idea took form in

Scarlett's mind and grew swiftly.

"I'll not be holding up my head in this town," she began. "You've

disgraced us all."

"Hold your tongue, Puss. Can you not see me head is bursting?"

"Coming home drunk with a man like Captain Butler, and singing at

the top of your lungs for everyone to hear and losing all that

money."

"The man is too clever with cards to be a gentleman. He--"

"What will Mother say when she hears?"

He looked up in sudden anguished apprehension. "You wouldn't be

telling your mother a word and upsetting her, now would you?"

Scarlett said nothing but pursed her lips.

"Think now how 'twould hurt her and her so gentle."

"And to think, Pa, that you said only last night I had disgraced

the family! Me, with my poor little dance to make money for the

soldiers. Oh, I could cry."

"Well, don't," pleaded Gerald. "'Twould be more than me poor head

could stand and sure 'tis bursting now."

"And you said that I--"

"Now Puss, now Puss, don't you be hurt at what your poor old

father said and him not meaning a thing and not understanding a

thing! Sure, you're a fine well-meaning girl, I'm sure."

"And wanting to take me home in disgrace."

"Ah, darling, I wouldn't be doing that. 'Twas to tease you. You

won't be mentioning the money to your mother and her in a flutter

about expenses already?"

"No," said Scarlett frankly, "I won't, if you'll let me stay here

and if you'll tell Mother that 'twas nothing but a lot of gossip

from old cats."

Gerald looked mournfully at his daughter.

"'Tis blackmail, no less."

"And last night was a scandal, no less."

"Well," he began wheedlingly, "we'll be forgetting all that. And

do you think a fine pretty lady like Miss Pittypat would be having

any brandy in the house? The hair of the dog--"

Scarlett turned and tiptoed through the silent hall into the

dining room to get the brandy bottle that she and Melly privately

called the "swoon bottle" because Pittypat always took a sip from