Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3

Move on, boy!В» said the sergeant.

Scarlett stood for a moment. Oh, no! She thought. It can’t be. Mr. Wilkes is too old. And he doesn’t like war any more than Ashley did!

When he saw her standing in the mud, Mr. Wilkes drew rein with a smile of pleasure and came toward her.

В«I hoped to see you, Scarlett. But there was no timeВ».

«Oh, Mr. Wilkes», she cried desperately. «Don’t go! Why must you go?»

«Ah, so you think I’m too old!» he smiled, and it was Ashley’s smile in an older face. «Perhaps I am too old to march but not to ride and shoot.

Your mother and father and the girls are well and they sent you their love. Your father wanted to join usВ».

«Oh, not Pa!» cried Scarlett in terror. «Not Pa! He isn’t going to the war, is he?»

«No, but he was. Of course, he can’t walk far with his stiff knee. You need have no shame about it. After all, someone must stay home and raise crops for the army. I’ve sent India and Honey to Macon to stay with the Burrs and Mr. O’Hara is looking after Twelve Oaks as well as Tara.

I must go, my dear. Let me kiss your pretty faceВ».

Scarlett was fond of Mr. Wilkes. Once, long ago, she had hoped to be his daughter-in-law.

В«How is Melanie?В»

В«She is wellВ».

В«Ah!В» His eyes looked at her but through her. В«I want to see my first grandchild. Good-bye, my dearВ».

The retreat from Dalton to Kennesaw Mountain had taken from early May to mid-June. Atlanta was crowded with visitors, refugees, families of wounded men in the hospitals, wives and mothers of soldiers.

In addition, bevies of belles from the country districts descended upon the town[17 - descended upon the town – хлынули в город]. Scarlett did not like these sixteen-year-olds. A widow with a child was at a disadvantage with these pretty minxes, she thought. But between hospital duties in the day time and parties at night, she hardly ever saw Wade. Sometimes she actually forgot that she had a child.

Fight and retreat! Fight and retreat! And every retreat was bringing the Yankees closer to the town.

Peachtree Creek was only five miles away! What was the General thinking about?

But the Yankees were coming closer and closer.

Scarlett and many other ladies sat on the roofs of stores, and watched the fighting on the day of the battle of Atlanta. But soon they fled to the cellars, and that night the exodus of women, children and old people from the city began. Mrs. Merriwether and Mrs.