Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3

And I’ve waited longer for you than I’ve ever waited for any woman».

She was breathless with surprise at his last words. In spite of all his insults, he did love her.

В«Are you asking me to marry you?В»

He dropped her hand and laughed loudly.

«Good Lord, no! Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t a marrying man?»

«But… but… what…»

He rose to his feet and made her a burlesque bow.

В«DearВ», he said quietly, В«I am asking you to be my mistressВ».

Mistress!

She was vilely insulted.

He thinks her such a fool! Rage, vanity and disappointment threw her mind into a turmoil. She blurted out the first words which came to her lips…

«Mistress! What will I get out of that except a passel of brats[18 - a passel of brats – куча слюнявых ребятишек]?»

Then she realized what she had said. She pressed her handkerchief to her mouth. He laughed.

«That’s why I like you! You are the only frank woman I know, the only woman who looks on the practical side of matters.

You don’t think about sin and morality. Any other woman will swoon first and then show me the door».

Scarlett leaped to her feet, her face red with shame. How could she say such a thing! She must scream. She must faint. She must turn coldly away in silence. Too late now!

«I will show you the door», she shouted. «Get out! How dare you say such things to me! Get out and don’t ever come back here. I’ll… I’ll tell my father and he’ll kill you!»

He picked up his hat and bowed.

His teeth were showing in a smile beneath his mustache. He was not ashamed, he was amused at what she had said, and he was watching her with alert interest.

Oh, he was detestable! She grabbed hold of the door to shut it with a bang, but the hook was too heavy for her.

В«May I help you?В» he asked.

She stormed up the stairs. And he slammed the door for her.

Chapter XV

Nowadays the news was passed from mouth to mouth. The wildest rumors appeared from nowhere and swept through the town.

Crowds stormed General Hood’s headquarters demanding information. But no news came. The telegraph wires were still, no trains came in on the one remaining railroad from the south and the mail service was broken.

And it was only four months since the Yankees moved south from Dalton. Only four months! Scarlett thought that it had occurred in another life. Oh, no! Surely not just four months. It had been a lifetime.