Scarlett stood on the landing and peered cautiously over the banisters into the hall below. It was empty.From the bedrooms on the floor above came an unending hum of low voices, rising and falling, punctuated with squeaks of laughter and,“Now, you didn't really!”and“What did he say then?”On the beds and couches of the six great bedrooms, the girls were resting, their dresses off, their stays loosed, their hair flowing down their backs.Afternoon naps were a custom of the country and never were they so necessary as on the all-day parties, beginning early in the morning and culminating in a ball.For half an hour, the girls would chatter and laugh, and then servants would pull in the shutters and in the warm half-gloom the talk would die to whispers and finally expire in silence broken only by soft regular breathing.
Scarlett had made certain that Melanie was lying down on the bed with Honey and Hetty Tarleton before she slipped into the hall and started down the stairs. From the window on the landing, she could see the group of men sitting under the arbor, drinking from tall glasses, and she knew they would remain there until late afternoon.Her eyes searched the group but Ashley was not among them.Then she listened and she heard his voice.As she had hoped, he was still in the front driveway bidding good-by to departing matrons and children.
Her heart in her throat, she went swiftly down the stairs. What if she should meet Mr.Wilkes?What excuse could she give for prowling about the house when all the other girls were getting their beauty naps?Well, that had to be risked.
As she reached the bottom step, she heard the servants moving about in the dining room under the butler's orders, lifting out the table and the chairs in preparation for the dancing. Across the wide hall was the open door of the library and she sped into it noiselessly.She could wait there until Ashley finished his adieux and then call to him when he came into the house.
The library was in semidarkness, for the blinds had been drawn against the sun. The dim room with towering walls completely filled with dark books depressed her.It was not the place which she would have chosen for a tryst such as she hoped this one would be.Large numbers of books always depressed her, as did people who liked to read large numbers of books.That is—all people except Ashley.The heavy furniture rose up at her in the half-light, high-backed chairs with deep seats and wide arms, made for the tall Wilkes men, squatty soft chairs of velvet with velvet hassocks before them for the girls.Far across the long room before the hearth, the seven-foot sofa, Ashley's favorite seat, reared its high back, like some huge sleeping animal.
She closed the door except for a crack and tried to make her heart beat more slowly. She tried to remember just exactly what she had planned last night to say to Ashley, but she couldn't recall anything.Had she thought up something and forgotten it—or had she only planned that Ashley should say something to her?She couldn't remember, and a sudden cold fright fell upon her.If her heart would only stop pounding in her ears, perhaps she could think of what to say.But the quick thudding only increased as she heard him call a final farewell and walk into the front hall.
All she could think of was that she loved him—everything about him, from the proud lift of his gold head to his slender dark boots, loved his laughter even when it mystified her, loved his bewildering silences. Oh, if only he would walk in on her now and take her in his arms, so she would be spared the need of saying anything.He must love her—“Perhaps if I prayed—”She squeezed her eyes tightly and began gabbling to herself“Hail Mary, fullofgrace—”
“Why, Scarlett!”said Ashley's voice, breaking in through the roaring in her ears and throwing her into utter confusion. He stood in the hall peering at her through the partly opened door, a quizzical smile on his face.
“Who are you hiding from—Charles or the Tarletons?”
She gulped. So he had noticed how the men had swarmed about her!How unutterably dear he was standing there with his eyes twinkling, all unaware of her excitement.She could not speak, but she put out a hand and drew him into the room.He entered, puzzled but interested.There was a tenseness about her, a glow in her eyes that he had never seen before, and even in the dim light he could see the rosy flush on her cheeks.Automatically he closed the door behind him and took her hand.
“What is it?”he said, almost in a whisper.
At the touch of his hand, she began to tremble. It was going to happen now, just as she had dreamed it.A thousand incoherent thoughts shot through her mind, and she could not catch a single one to mold into a word.She could only shake and look up into his face.Why didn't he speak?
“What is it?”he repeated.“A secret to tell me?”
Suddenly she found her tongue and just as suddenly all the years of Ellen's teachings fell away, and the forthright Irish blood of Gerald spoke from his daughter's lips.
“Yes—a secret. I love you.”
For an instant there was a silence so acute it seemed that neither of them even breathed. Then the trembling fell away from her, as happiness and pride surged through her.Why hadn't she done this before?How much simpler than all the ladylike maneuverings she had been taught.And then her eyes sought his.
There was a look of consternation in them, of incredulity and something more—what was it?Yes, Gerald had looked that way the day his pet hunter had broken his leg and he had had to shoot him. Why did she have to think of that now?Such a silly thought.And why did Ashley look so oddly and say nothing?Then something like a well-trained mask came down over his face and he smiled gallantly.
“Isn't it enough that you've collected every other man's heart here today?”he said, with the old, teasing, caressing note in his voice.“Do you want to make it unanimous?Well, you've always had my heart, you know. You cut your teeth on it.”
