Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3

Rhett! How she hated him! How contemptible he had been! And she had stood there in the road and let him kiss her… and almost liked it. She had been crazy last night. How despicable he was!

She gathered some apples and divided them up and threw the rest into the back of the wagon. The horse raised. But he looked far worse in the daylight than he had the night before. He walked very slowly. Oh, if only she didn’t have Melanie and Wade and the baby and Prissy to bother with! How swiftly she could walk home!

They couldn’t be more than fifteen miles from home.

She looked back at Melanie who lay with sick eyes closed against the sun.

Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?

There was death in the air. The countryside lay as under some dread enchantment. Scarlett felt that the familiar woods were full of ghosts. Thousands had died in the fighting near Jonesboro. They were here in these haunted woods.

В«Mother! Mother!В» she whispered.

Mother would know what to do. She wouldn’t let Melanie and her baby die. She would drive away all ghosts and fears. But Mother was ill, perhaps dying.

Why was she dragging Melanie and her child? Why did not die in Atlanta?

But Ashley had left Melanie in her care. «Take care of her». Oh, that beautiful day when he had kissed her good-bye before he went away forever! «You’ll take care of her, won’t you? Promise!» And she had promised.

Oh, Ashley! Where was he tonight while she was with his wife and baby? Was he alive? Or was he dead of smallpox months ago?

A sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them.

Prissy screamed loudly.

«It’s only a cow», said Scarlett. «Don’t be a fool, Prissy. You’ve frightened Miss Melly and Wade».

«It’s a ghost», moaned Prissy.

В«Sit up, you foolВ», said Scarlett.

It was, indeed, a cow, a red and white animal which stood looking at them appealingly with large frightened eyes.

«We’ll take it with us», Scarlett decided swiftly.

В«Then we can have some milk for the babyВ».

В«How will we take the cow, Miss Scarlett? We can take no cow with usВ».

В«Take off your petticoat and tear it up and tie her to the back of the wagonВ».

«Miss Scarlett, you know, I have no petticoat. And I’m scared of cows».

Scarlett pulled up her skirt. She untied the waist tape and slipped it down over her feet. Resolutely she put it in her mouth and gnawed.