“I—you are the most ill-bred man in the world,coming here at this time of all times with your filthy—I should have known you'd never change.And Frank hardly cold!If you had any decency—Will you leave this—”
“Do be quiet or you'll have Miss Pittypat down here in a minute,”he said,not rising but reaching up and taking both her fists.“I'm afraid you miss my point.”
“Miss your point?I don't miss anything.”She pulled against his grip.“Turn me loose and get out of here.I never heard of such bad taste.I—”
“Hush,”he said.“I am asking you to marry me.Would you be convinced if I knelt down?”
She said “Oh”breathlessly and sat down hard on the sofa.
She stared at him,her mouth open,wondering if the brandy were playing tricks on her mind,remembering senselessly his jibing:“My dear,I'm not a marrying man.”She was drunk or he was crazy.But he did not look crazy.He looked as calm as though he were discussing the weather,and his smooth drawl fell on her ears with no particular emphasis.
“I always intended having you,Scarlett,since that first day I saw you at Twelve Oaks when you threw that vase and swore and proved that you weren't a lady.I always intended having you,one way or another.But as you and Frank have made a little money,I know you'll never be driven to me again with any interesting propositions of loans and collaterals.So I see I'll have to marry you.”
“Rhett Butler,is this one of your vile jokes?”
“I bare my soul and you are suspicious!No,Scarlett,this is a bona fide honorable declaration.I admit that it's not in the best of taste,coming at this time,but I have a very good excuse for my lack of breeding.I'm going away tomorrow for a long time and I fear that if I wait till I return you'll have married some one else with a little money.So I thought,why not me and my money?Really,Scarlett,I can't go all my life,waiting to catch you between husbands.”
He meant it.There was no doubt about it.Her mouth was dry as she assimilated this knowledge and she swallowed and looked into his eyes,trying to find some clue.They were full of laughter but there was something else,deep in them,which she had never seen before,a gleam that defied analysis.He sat easily,carelessly but she felt that he was watching her as alertly as a cat watches a mouse hole.There was a sense of leashed power straining beneath his calm that made her draw back,a little frightened.
He was actually asking her to marry him;he was committing the incredible.Once she had planned how she would torment him should he ever propose.Once she had thought that if he ever spoke those words she would humble him and make him feel her power and take a malicious pleasure in doing it.Now,he had spoken and the plans did not even occur to her,for he was no more in her power than he had ever been.In fact,he held the whip hand of the situation so completely that she was as flustered as a girl at her first proposal and she could only blush and stammer.
“I—I shall never marry again.”
“Oh,yes,you will.You were born to be married.Why not me?”
“But Rhett,I—I don't love you.”
“That should be no drawback.I don't recall that love was prominent in your other two ventures.”
“Oh,how can you?You know I was fond of Frank!”
He said nothing.
“I was!I was!”
“Well,we won't argue that.Will you think over my proposition while I'm gone?”
“Rhett,I don't like for things to drag on.I'd rather tell you now.I'm going home to Tara soon and India Wilkes will stay with Aunt Pittypat.I want to go home for a long spell and—I—I don't ever want to get married again.”
“Nonsense.Why?”
“Oh,well—never mind why.I just don't like being married.”
“But,my poor child,you've never really been married.How can you know?I'll admit you've had bad luck—once for spite and once for money.Did you ever think of marrying—just for the fun of it?”
“Fun!Don't talk like a fool.There's no fun being married.”
“No?Why not?”
A measure of calm had returned and with it all the natural bluntness which brandy brought to the surface.
“It's fun for men—though God knows why.I never could understand it.But all a woman gets out of it is something to eat and a lot of work and having to put up with a man's foolishness—and a baby every year.”
He laughed so loudly that the sound echoed in the stillness and Scarlett heard the kitchen door open.
“Hush!Mammy has ears like a lynx and it isn't decent to laugh so soon after—hush laughing.You know it's true.Fun!Fiddle-dee-dee!”
“I said you'd had bad luck and what you've just said proves it.You've been married to a boy and to an old man.And into the bargain I'll bet your mother told you that women must bear ‘these things'because of the compensating joys of motherhood.Well,that's all wrong.Why not try marrying a fine young man who has a bad reputation and a way with women?It'll be fun.”
“You are coarse and conceited and I think this conversation has gone far enough.It's—it's quite vulgar.”
“And quite enjoyable too,isn't it?I'll wager you never discussed the marital relation with a man before,even Charles or Frank.”
She scowled at him.Rhett knew too much.She wondered where he had learned all he knew about women.It wasn't decent.
“Don't frown.Name the day,Scarlett.I'm not urging instant matrimony because of your reputation.We'll wait the decent interval.By the way,just how long is a ‘decent interval'?”
“I haven't said I'd marry you.It isn't decent to even talk of such things at such a time.”
“I've told you why I'm talking of them.I'm going away tomorrow and I'm too ardent a lover to restrain my passion any longer.But perhaps I've been too precipitate in my wooing.”
With a suddenness that startled her,he slid off the sofa onto his knees and with one hand placed delicately over his heart,he recited rapidly:
