“I don't want it repaid.Don't be angry with me,Miss Melly!Please hear me through.It will repay me enough to know that Scarlett will not be exhausting herself driving miles to the mills every day.The store will be enough to keep her busy and happy....Don't you see?”
“Well—yes—”said Melanie uncertainly.
“You want your boy to have a pony,don't you?And want him to go to the university and to Harvard and to Europe on a Grand Tour?”
“Oh,of course,”cried Melanie,her face lighting up,as always,at the mention of Beau.“I want him to have everything but—well,everyone is so poor these days that—”
“Mr.Wilkes could make a pile of money out of the mills some day,”said Rhett.“And I'd like to see Beau have all the advantages he deserves.”
“Oh,Captain Butler,what a crafty wretch you are!”she cried,smiling.“Appealing to a mother's pride!I can read you like a book.”
“I hope not,”said Rhett,and for the first time there was a gleam in his eye.“Now will you let me lend you the money?”
“But where does the deception come in?”
“We must be conspirators and deceive both Scarlett and Mr.Wilkes.”
“Oh,dear!I couldn't!”
“If Scarlett knew I had plotted behind her back,even for her own good—well,you know her temper!And I'm afraid Mr.Wilkes would refuse any loan I offered him.So neither of them must know where the money comes from.”
“Oh,but I'm sure Mr.Wilkes wouldn't refuse,if he understood the matter.He is so fond of Scarlett.”
“Yes,I'm sure he is,”said Rhett smoothly.“But just the same he would refuse.You know how proud all the Wilkeses are.”
“Oh,dear!”cried Melanie miserably.“I wish—Really,Captain Butler,I couldn't deceive my husband.”
“Not even to help Scarlett?”Rhett looked very hurt.“And she so fond of you!”
Tears trembled on Melanie's eyelids.
“You know I'd do anything in the world for her.I can never,never half repay her for what she's done for me.You know.”
“Yes,”he said shortly,“I know what she's done for you.Couldn't you tell Mr.Wilkes that the money was left you in the will of some relative?”
“Oh,Captain Butler,I haven't a relative with a penny to bless him!”
“Then,if I sent the money through the mail to Mr.Wilkes without his knowing who sent it,would you see that it was used to buy the mills and not—well,given away to destitute ex-Confederates?”
At first she looked hurt at his last words,as though they implied criticism of Ashley,but he smiled so understandingly she smiled back.
“Of course I will.”
“So it's settled?It's to be our secret?”
“But I have never kept anything secret from my husband!”
“I'm sure of that,Miss Melly.”
As she looked at him she thought how right she had always been about him and how wrong so many other people were.People had said he was brutal and sneering and bad mannered and even dishonest.Though many of the nicest people were now admitting they had been wrong.Well!She had known from the very beginning that he was a fine man.She had never received from him anything but the kindest treatment,thoughtfulness,utter respect and what understanding!And then,how he loved Scarlett!How sweet of him to take this roundabout way of sparing Scarlett one of the loads she carried!
In an impulsive rush of feeling,she said:“Scarlett's lucky to have a husband who's so nice to her!”
“You think so?I'm afraid she wouldn't agree with you,if she could hear you.Besides,I want to be nice to you too,Miss Melly.I'm giving you more than I'm giving Scarlett.”
“Me?”she questioned,puzzled.“Oh,you mean for Beau.”
He picked up his hat and rose.He stood for a moment looking down at the plain,heart-shaped face with its long widow's peak and serious dark eyes.Such an unworldly face,a face with no defenses against life.
“No,not Beau.I'm trying to give you something more than Beau,if you can imagine that.”
“No,I can't,”she said,bewildered again.“There's nothing in the world more precious to me than Beau except Ash—except Mr.Wilkes.”
Rhett said nothing and looked down at her,his dark face still.
“You're mighty nice to want to do things for me,Captain Butler,but really,I'm so lucky.I have everything in the world any woman could want.”
“That's fine,”said Rhett,suddenly grim.“And I intend to see that you keep them.”
When Scarlett came back from Tara,the unhealthy pallor had gone from her face and her cheeks were rounded and faintly pink.Her green eyes were alert and sparkling again,and she laughed aloud for the first time in weeks when Rhett and Bonnie met her and Wade and Ella at the depot—laughed in annoyance and amusement.Rhett had two straggling turkey feathers in the brim of his hat and Bonnie,dressed in a sadly torn dress that was her Sunday frock,had diagonal lines of indigo blue on her cheeks and a peacock feather half as long as she was in her curls.Evidently a game of Indian had been in progress when the time came to meet the train and it was obvious from the look of quizzical helplessness on Rhett's face and the lowering indignation of Mammy that Bonnie had refused to have her toilet remedied,even to meet her mother.
Scarlett said:“What a ragamuffin!”as she kissed the child and turned a cheek for Rhett's lips.There were crowds of people in the depot or she would never have invited this caress.She could not help noticing,for all her embarrassment at Bonnie's appearance,that everyone in the crowd was smiling at the figure father and daughter cut,smiling not in derision but in genuine amusement and kindness.Everyone knew that Scarlett's youngest had her father under her thumb and Atlanta was amused and approving.Rhett's great love for his child had gone far toward reinstating him in public opinion.
