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Ashley looked at Will quickly and then looked away， saying nothing but wondering if Will had the same awful suspicion which was haunting him. But that was impossible. Will didn’t know what had taken place in the orchard that afternoon and how it had driven Scarlett to desperation. Will couldn’t have noticed Mammy’s face when Rhett Butler’s name was mentioned and， besides， Will didn’t know about Rhett’s money or his foul reputation. At least， Ashley did not think he could know these things， but since coming back to Tara he had realized that Will， like Mammy， seemed to know things without being told， to sense them before they happened. There was something ominous in the air， exactly what Ashley did nut know， but he was powerless to save Scarlett from it. She had not met his eyes once that evening and the hard bright gaiety with which she had treated him was frightening. The suspicions which tore at him were too terrible to be put into words. He did not have the right to insult her by asking her if they were true. He clenched his fists. He had no rights at all where she was concerned； this afternoon he had forfeited them all， forever. He could not help her. No one could help her. But when he thought of Mammy and the look of grim determination she wore as she cut into the velvet curtains， he was cheered a little. Mammy would take care of Scarlett whether Scarlett wished it or not.

“I have caused all this，” he thought despairingly. “I have driven her to this.”

He remembered the way she had squared her shoulders when she turned away from him that afternoon， remembered the stubborn lift of her head. His heart went out to her， torn with his own helplessness， wrenched with admiration. He knew she had no such word in her vocabulary as gallantry， knew she would have stared blankly if he had told her she was the most gallant soul he had ever known. He knew she would not understand how many truly fine things he ascribed to her when he thought of her as gallant He knew that she took life as it came， opposed her tough-fibered mind to whatever obstacles there might be， fought on with a determination that would not recognize defeat， and kept on fighting even when she saw defeat was inevitable.

But， for four years， he had seen others who had refused to recognize defeat， men who rode gaily into sure disaster because they were gallant And they had been defeated， just the same.

He thought as he stared at Will in the shadowy hall that he had never known such gallantry as the gallantry of Scarlett O’Hara going forth to conquer the world in her mother’s velvet curtains and the tail feathers of a rooster.

CHAPTER XXXIII

A COLD WIND was blowing stiffly and the scudding clouds overhead were the deep gray of slate when Scarlett and Mammy stepped from the train in Atlanta the next afternoon. The depot had not been rebuilt since the burning of the city and they alighted amid cinders and mud a few yards above the blackened ruins which marked the site. Habit strong upon her， Scarlett looked about for Uncle Peter and Pitty’s carriage， for she had always been met by them when returning from Tara to Atlanta during the war years. Then she caught herself with a sniff at her own absent-mindedness. Naturally， Peter wasn’t there for she had given Aunt Pitty no warning of her coming and， moreover， she remembered that one of the old lady’s letters had dealt tearfully with the death of the old nag Peter had “ ‘quired” in Macon to bring her back to Atlanta after the surrender.

She looked about the rutted and cut-up space around the depot for the equipage of some old friend or acquaintance who might drive them to Aunt Pitty’s house but she recognized no one， black or white. Probably none of her old friends owned carriages now， if what Pitty had written them was true. Times were so hard it was difficult to feed and lodge humans， much less animals. Most of Pitty’s friends， like herself， were afoot these days.

There were a few wagons loading at the freight cars and several mud-splashed buggies with rough-looking strangers at the reins but only two carriages. One was a closed carriage， the other open and occupied by a well-dressed woman and a Yankee officer. Scarlett drew in her breath sharply at the sight of the uniform. Although Pitty had written that Atlanta was garrisoned and the streets full of soldiers， the first sight of the bluecoat startled and frightened her. It was hard to remember that the war was over and that this man would not pursue her， rob her and insult her.

The comparative emptiness around the train took her mind back to that morning in 1862 when she had come to Atlanta as a young widow， swathed in crêpe and wild with boredom. She recalled how crowded this space had been with wagons and carriages and ambulances and how noisy with drivers swearing and yelling and people calling greetings to friends. She sighed for the light-hearted excitement of the war days and sighed again at the thought of walking all the way to Aunt Pitty’s house. But she was hopeful that once on Peachtree Street， she might meet someone she knew who would give them a ride.

As she stood looking about her a saddle-colored negro of middle age drove the dosed carriage toward her and， leaning from the box， questioned： “Cah’ige， lady？ Two bits fer any whar in ‘Lanta.”

Mammy threw him an annihilating glance.

“A hired hack！” she rumbled. “Nigger， does you know who we is？”

Mammy was a country negro but she had not always been a country negro and she knew that no chaste woman ever rode in a hired conveyance—especially a closed carriage—without the escort of some male member of her family. Even the presence of a negro maid would not satisfy the conventions. She gave Scarlett a glare as she saw her look longingly at the hack.

“Come ‘way frum dar， Miss Scarlett！ A hired hack an’ a free issue nigger！ Well， dat’s a good combination.”

“Ah ain’ no free issue nigger，” declared the driver with heat. “Ah b’longs ter Ole Miss Talbot an’ disyere her cah’ige an’ Ah drives it ter mek money fer us.”

“Whut Miss Talbot is dat？”