“When I lent you the money to buy that mill I made one stipulation,to which you agreed,and that was that it should not go to the support of Ashley Wilkes.”
“You are being very offensive.I've paid you back your money and I own the mill and what I do with it is my own business.”
“Would you mind telling me how you made the money to pay back my loan?”
“I made it selling lumber,of course.”
“You made it with the money I lent you to give you your start.That's what you mean.My money is being used to support Ashley.You are a woman quite without honor and if you hadn't repaid my loan,I'd take great pleasure in calling it in now and selling you out at public auction if you couldn't pay.”
He spoke lightly but there was anger flickering in his eyes.
Scarlett hastily carried the warfare into the enemy's territory.
“Why do you hate Ashley so much?I believe you're jealous of him.”
After she had spoken she could have bitten her tongue,for he threw back his head and laughed until she went red with mortification.
“Add conceit to dishonor,”he said.“You'll never get over being the belle of the County will you?You'll always think you're the cutest little trick in shoe leather and that every man you meet is expiring for love of you.”
“I don't either!”she cried hotly.“But I just can't see why you hate Ashley so much and that's the only explanation I can think of.”
“Well,think something else,pretty charmer,for that's the wrong explanation.And as for hating Ashley—I don't hate him any more than I like him.In fact,my only emotion toward him and his kind is pity.”
“Pity?”
“Yes,and a little contempt.Now,swell up like a gobbler and tell me that he is worth a thousand blackguards like me and that I shouldn't dare be so presumptuous as to feel either pity or contempt for him.And when you have finished swelling,I'll tell you what I mean,if you're interested.”
“Well,I'm not.”
“I shall tell you,just the same,for I can't bear for you to go on nursing your pleasant delusion of my jealousy.I pity him because he ought to be dead and he isn't.And I have a contempt for him because he doesn't know what to do with himself now that his world is gone.”
There was something familiar in the idea he expressed.She had a confused memory of having heard similar words but she could not remember when and where.She did not think very hard about it for her anger was hot.
“If you had your way all the decent men in the South would be dead!”
“And if they had their way,I think Ashley's kind would prefer to be dead.Dead with neat stones above them,saying:‘Here lies a soldier of the Confederacy,dead for the Southland’or ‘Dulce et decorum est—'or any of the other popular epitaphs.”
“I don't see why!”
“You never see anything that isn't written in letters a foot high and then shoved under your nose,do you?If they were dead,their troubles would be over,there'd be no problems to face,problems that have no solutions.Moreover,their families would be proud of them through countless generations.And I've heard the dead are happy.Do you suppose Ashley Wilkes is happy?”
“Why,of course—”she began and then she remembered the look in Ashley's eyes recently and stopped.
“Is he happy or Hugh Elsing or Dr.Meade?Any more than my father and your father were happy?”
“Well,perhaps not as happy as they might be,because they've all lost their money.”
He laughed.
“It isn't losing their money,my pet.I tell you it's losing their world—the world they were raised in.they're like fish out of water or cats with wings.They were raised to be certain persons,to do certain things,to occupy certain niches.And those persons and things and niches disappeared forever when General Lee arrived at Appomattox.Oh,Scarlett,don't look so stupid!What is there for Ashley Wilkes to do,now that his home is gone and his plantation taken up for taxes and fine gentlemen are going twenty for a penny?Can he work with his head or his hands?I'll bet you've lost money hand over fist since he took over that mill.”
“I have not!”
“How nice.May I look over your books some Sunday evening when you are at leisure?”
“You can go to the devil and not at your leisure.You can go now,for all I care.”
“My pet,I've been to the devil and he's a very dull fellow.I won't go there again,even for you....You took my money when you needed it desperately and you used it.We had an agreement as to how it should be used and you have broken that agreement.Just remember,my precious little cheat,the time will come when you will want to borrow more money from me.You'll want me to bank you,at some incredibly low interest,so you can buy more mills and more mules and build more saloons.And you can whistle for the money.”
“When I need money I'll borrow it from the bank,thank you,”she said coldly,but her breast was heaving with rage.
“Will you?Try to do it.I own plenty of stock in the bank.”
“You do?”
“Yes,I am interested in some honest enterprises.”
“There are other banks—”
“Plenty of them.And if I can manage it,you'll play hell getting a cent from any of them.You can go to the Carpetbag usurers if you want money.”
“I'll go to them with pleasure.”
“You'll go but with little pleasure when you learn their rates of interest.My pretty,there are penalties in the business world for crooked dealing.You should have played straight with me.”
“You're a fine man,aren't you?So rich and powerful yet picking on people who are down,like Ashley and me!”
“Don't put yourself in his class.You aren't down.Nothing will down you.But he is down and he'll stay there unless there's some energetic person behind him,guiding and protecting him as long as he lives.I'm of no mind to have my money used for the benefit of such a person.”
“You didn't mind helping me and I was down and—”
