Читать книгу Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром. Уровень 3 - Маргарет Митчелл - Страница 3

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.

Gerald did not see his daughter in the shadow of the trees. She laughed aloud. Gerald recognized her, and dismounted with difficulty, because his knee was stiff, and stumped toward her.

«Well, Miss», he said, «so, you’re spying on me and, like your sister Suellen last week, you’ll tell your mother about me?»

Scarlett teasingly clicked her tongue.

«No, Pa, I’m not a tattletale[4] like Suellen», she assured him.

Gerald was a small man, little more than five feet tall, but very heavy. His thick torso was supported by short sturdy legs. He was sixty years old and his curly hair was silver-white, but his little blue eyes were young. His was Irish. And he had the tenderest of hearts.

Scarlett was his oldest child. She was more like her father than her younger sisters, Carreen and Suellen.

«You look very presentable now», she said. «But it seems to me that after you broke your knee last year, jumping that fence…»

«Well, my own daughter is telling me what I shall jump and not jump!» he shouted. «Miss, what are you doing out here without your shawl?»

«I was waiting for you. I want to know if you bought Dilcey».

«Yes I did, and the price has ruined me. Bought her and her little wench, Prissy. I gave him three thousand for the two of them».

«Pa, three thousand! And you didn’t need to buy Prissy!»

«Prissy is a pretty little wench».

«I know her. She’s a sly, stupid creature», Scarlett rejoined calmly. «And the only reason you bought her was because Dilcey asked you to buy her».

«Well, what if I did? Well, come on, let’s go to supper».

«How are they all at Twelve Oaks?»

«As usual. Cade Calvert was there and, we all sat on the gallery. Cade has just come from Atlanta».

«Did they say anything about the barbecue tomorrow?»

«Yes, they did. Ashley’s cousin, Miss Melanie Hamilton, and her brother Charles have already come from Atlanta and…»

«Was Ashley there, too?»

«He was». Gerald turned and peered sharply into her face. «You want to talk about him, right? He was there and he asked most kindly about you. And now, daughter, what’s all this about you and Ashley?»

«There is nothing», she said shortly.

«Really? Has he asked to marry you?»

«No», she said shortly.

«Nor will he», said Gerald.

Fury flamed in her.

«Miss! I learned from John Wilkes that Ashley was going to marry Miss Melanie. It will be announced tomorrow».

So it was true!

«Is it a spectacle you’ve been making of yourself?» he bawled. «Have you been running after a man who’s not in love with you?»

«I haven’t been running after him. It… it just surprised me».

«You’re lying!» said Gerald, and then he added: «I’m sorry, daughter. But there are lots of other lads. If you had any sense you’d have married Stuart or Brent Tarleton long ago. Think it over, daughter. You know little enough of any man, and of Ashley, too. Those Wilkes… The whole family is strange enough. Yes, Ashley can ride and play poker. He can do all those things, but his heart’s not in it. He’s queer».

Scarlett was silent and her heart sank.

«Scarlett! Why won’t you marry Cade Calvert? The Calverts are good folk, all of them. I’ll leave Tara to you and Cade…»

«I don’t want marry Cade!» cried Scarlett in fury. «And I don’t want Tara or any old plantation! They don’t amount to anything[5]».

«Do you tell me that Tara… that land… doesn’t amount to anything?»

Scarlett nodded obstinately.

«Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything», he shouted.

«Oh, Pa», she said disgustedly, «you talk like an Irishman!»

«And I am proud of it. And don’t forget that you are half Irish, Miss!»