@@@@@What went wrong? I was so sure that if I
@@@@@What went wrong? I was so sure that if I could
just have enough money, I'd be safeNow I'm rich, and I feel more
afraid than ever before in my whole lifeBut when summer came
there
was no visit by Rhett, no word from himScarlett hurried home from
the
store every morning so she'd be there if he was on the midday train
In the evening she wore her most becoming gown and her pearls for
supper, in case he was coming some other wayThe long table
stretched
before her gleaming with silver and heavy damask starched to a shine
It was then that she began to drink steadily-to shut out the silence
while she listened for his footstepsShe didn't think anything of it
when she began having sherry in the afternoon-after all, taking a glass
or two of sherry was a ladylike thing to doAnd she hardly noticed
when she changed from sherry to whiskey or when she first needed
a
drink to do the store accounts because it depressed her that business
was falling off so or when she began leaving the food on her plate
because alcohol satisfied her hunger better or when she began to
take a glass of brandy as soon as she got up in the morning
She hardly even noticed when summer became fallPansy brought
the
afternoon mail to the bedroom on a trayLately Scarlett had tried
sleeping for a while after dinnerIt filled up part of the empty
afternoon, and it gave her some rest, a relief denied to her at
night
"You want I should bring you a pot of coffee or something, Miss
Scarlett?"
"No Scarlett took the topmost letter and Aunt
Eulalie always wrote on both sides of the thin paper, and often she
"crossed" the letter, writing on the page then turning it to a right
angle and writing across the previous lines
All to say a great deal about precious littleThe unseasonably warm
autumn she said that every year Aunt Pauline having trouble
with her knee she'd had trouble with her knee as long as Scarlett
could remember a visit to Sister Mary Joseph
Scarlett made a fa