Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3

Calvert was standing close by the side of his Yankee wife. On the porch steps stood John Wilkes. Beside him stood Honey Wilkes.

Frank Kennedy was hurrying to the carriage to assist Suellen. Frank Kennedy owned more land than anyone in the County, but he was forty, slight and nervous and had a thin beard. But where was Ashley? And Melanie and Charles?

Her eyes fell on a stranger. He was standing alone in the hall. He looked quite old, at least thirty-five. He was a tall man. Scarlett thought she had never seen a man with such wide shoulders, so heavy with muscles.

He was dark of face, swarthy as a pirate, and his eyes were bold and black.

He turned as someone called:

В«Rhett! Rhett Butler! Come here!В»

«I must run upstairs and smooth my hair», she told Stuart and Brent. «You boys wait for me and don’t run off with any other girl or I’ll be furious».

Scarlett started up the wide stairs. As she did, a shy voice behind her called her name and she saw Charles Hamilton.

He was a nice-looking boy with a riot of brown curls on his white forehead and brown eyes. But he was timid with girls. She had never paid him much attention, but the smile of pleasure with which she greeted him almost took his breath away.

«Charles Hamilton, you’re very handsome today! Have you come here from Atlanta just to break my poor heart?»

Charles almost stuttered with excitement. Charles was not excited over the prospect of marrying her. And here was Scarlett O’Hara teasing him about breaking her heart! It was too good to be true.

В«Now, you wait right here till I come back, for I want to eat barbecue with you. And remember: I am jealousВ», came the incredible words from red lips.

В«I willВ», he finally managed to whisper, he looked like a calf waiting for the butcher.

Rhett Butler who stood alone a few feet away from Charles. Evidently he had overheard the whole conversation.

In the bedroom, she found Cathleen Calvert.

В«CathleenВ», said Scarlett, trying to pull the corsage of her dress higher, В«who is that nasty man downstairs named Butler?В»

«My dear, don’t you know?» whispered Cathleen excitedly.

«He isn’t received![6 - he isn’t received – его не принимают в обществе]»

В«What did he do?В»

«Oh, Scarlett, he’s from Charleston. Caro told me about him last summer. She knows all about him, everybody does. He was expelled from West Point.