Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it. In her face were the delicate features of her mother, a French aristocrat, and the heavy ones of her Irish father.
Seated with the Tarleton twins[1], Stuart and Brent, in the cool shade of the porch of Tara, her father’s plantation, that bright April afternoon of 1861, she made a pretty picture[2]. Her waist was the smallest in three counties, she was sixteen years old. Her manners were the result of her mother’s gentle admonitions and the stern discipline of her Mammy.
The twins laughed and talked. Nineteen years old, hard of muscle, with sunburned faces and deep auburn hair, their eyes merry and arrogant, they were alike. These boys were born to the ease of plantation life. The boys’ family had more money, more horses, more slaves than any one else in the County, but the boys had less grammar than most of their poor neighbors.
Stuart and Brent had just been expelled from the University of Georgia. Their older brothers, Tom and Boyd, had come home with them, because they refused to remain at an institution where the twins were not welcome.
«I know you two don’t care, and Tom too», Scarlett said. «But what about Boyd?»
«Oh, he can study law in Judge Parmalee’s office over in Fayetteville», answered Brent carelessly.
«Why?»
«The war! The war is going to start any day, and we won’t stay in college that time».
«You know there won’t be any war», said Scarlett. «It’s all just talk. The Yankees are too scared of us to fight».
She did not endure any conversation of which she was not the chief subject. War was men’s business, not ladies’.
Then she asked,
«What did your mother say about your situation?»
The boys looked uncomfortable.
«Well», said Stuart, «Tom and us left home early this morning before she got up».
«Didn’t she say anything when you got home last night?»
«We were lucky last night. Just before we got home that new stallion Ma got in Kentucky last month was brought in. When we got home, Ma was out in the stable with a sackful of sugar. The darkies[3] were popeyed, they were so scared. And when she saw us she said: ‘Oh, what are you four doing home again?’ And then the horse began to snort and rear, and she said: ‘Get out of here! Can’t you see he’s nervous? I’ll talk to you four in the morning!’ So we went to bed, and this morning we got away and left Boyd with her».
«Will your mother ride the new horse to the Wilkes barbecue tomorrow?»
«She wants to, but Pa says he’s too dangerous. We’ll tell you a secret», said Stuart.
«What?» cried Scarlett as a child.
«You know, Ashley Wilkes’ cousin, Miss Pittypat Hamilton, told us there was going to be an engagement announced tomorrow night at the Wilkes ball».
«Oh. I know about that», said Scarlett in disappointment. «That silly nephew of hers, Charlie Hamilton, and Wilkes».
«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.
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.
«Why are you sitting here, Miss Scarlett??»
«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.
«Oh, Ashley! Ashley!» 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.
«I wonder why he always wants to jump fences», she thought.
