Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3

«No, it isn’t his engagement that’s going to be announced», said Stuart triumphantly. «It’s Ashley’s to Charlie’s sister, Miss Melanie!»

Scarlett’s face did not change but her lips went white.

The twins talked about the barbecue and the ball and Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton. But Scarlett was silent.

Chapter II

When the twins left Scarlett, she went back to her chair like a sleepwalker. She sat down wearily. Her hands were cold, and a feeling of disaster oppressed her. Ashley is going to marry Melanie Hamilton! Oh, it can’t be true! Ashley can’t be in love with her.

Nobody can. Scarlett recalled with contempt Melanie’s thin childish figure, her serious face. No, Ashley can’t be in love with Melanie, because he was in love with her!

Mammy emerged from the hall, a huge old woman with the small, shrewd eyes of an elephant. She was black, pure African, devoted to the O’Haras.

В«Why are you sitting here, Miss Scarlett??В»

В«I am tired. I want to sit here and watch the sunset.

Please, Mammy, bring me my shawl and I’ll sit here till Pa comes home».

Mammy waddled back into the hall. Scarlett went quietly down the front steps. Soon she was at the end of the driveway and out on the main road. She sat down on a stump to wait for her father.

В«Oh, Ashley! Ashley!В» she thought.

He never talked about love to her. And yet she knew he loved her. Sometimes he looked at her with a yearning and a sadness which puzzled her. She knew he loved her.

Why did he not tell her so?

He was courteous always, but aloof, remote. Ashley was proficient in hunting, gambling, dancing and politics, and was the best rider of all. He was interested in books and music and writing poetry. She loved him and she wanted him and she did not understand him.

Why has he captivated Scarlett? She did not know. Ashley is going marry Melanie! It can’t be true! Oh, where is Pa? She looked impatiently down the road again, and again she was disappointed.

The sun was now below the horizon. At last she heard a sound of hooves. Gerald O’Hara was coming home. He came up the hill at a gallop on his long-legged horse. Gerald was an excellent horseman.

В«I wonder why he always wants to jump fencesВ», she thought.

Gerald did not see his daughter in the shadow of the trees. She laughed aloud. Gerald recognized her, and dismounted with difficulty, because his knee was stiff, and stumped toward her.