I do not even want you to speak to her again."
"I'll do as I please.
Turn me loose.
Why should you care?"
"I don't care whether you have one child or twenty, but I do care if you die."
"Die?
Me?"
"Yes, die.
I don't suppose Mamie Bart told you the chances a woman takes when she does a thing like that?"
"No," said Scarlett reluctantly.
"She just said it would fix things up fine."
"By God, I will kill her!" cried Rhett and his face was black with rage.
He looked down into Scarlett's tear-stained face and some of the wrath faded but it was still hard and set.
Suddenly he picked her up in his arms and sat down in the chair, holding her close to him, tightly, as if he feared she would get away from him.
"Listen, my baby, I won't have you take your life in your hands.
Do you hear?
Good God, I don't want children any more than you do, but I can support them.
I don't want to hear any more foolishness out of you, and if you dare try to--Scarlett, I saw a girl die that way once.
She was only a--well, but she was a pretty sort at that.
It's not an easy way to die.
I--"
"Why, Rhett!" she cried, startled out of her misery at the emotion in his voice.
She had never seen him so moved.
"Where--who--"
"In New Orleans--oh, years ago.
I was young and impressionable."
He bent his head suddenly and buried his lips in her hair.
"You'll have your baby, Scarlett, if I have to handcuff you to my wrist for the next nine months."
She sat up in his lap and stared into his face with frank curiosity.
Under her gaze it was suddenly smooth and bland as though wiped clear by magic.
His eyebrows were up and the corner of his mouth was down.
"Do I mean so much to you?" she questioned, dropping her eyelids.
He gave her a level look as though estimating how much coquetry was behind the question.
Reading the true meaning of her demeanor, he made casual answer.
"Well, yes.
You see, I've invested a good deal of money in you, and I'd hate to lose it." * * * * *
Melanie came out of Scarlett's room, weary from the strain but happy to tears at the birth of Scarlett's daughter.
Rhett stood tensely in the hall, surrounded by cigar butts which had burned holes in the fine carpet.
"You can go in now, Captain Butler," she said shyly.
Rhett went swiftly past her into the room and Melanie had a brief glimpse of him bending over the small naked baby in Mammy's lap before Dr. Meade shut the door.
Melanie sank into a chair, her face pinkening with embarrassment that she had unintentionally witnessed so intimate a scene.
"Ah!" she thought. "How sweet!
How worried poor Captain Butler has been!
And he did not take a single drink all this time!
How nice of him.
So many gentlemen are so intoxicated by the time their babies are born.
I fear he needs a drink badly.
Dare I suggest it?
No, that would be very forward of me."
She sank gratefully into a chair, her back, which always ached these days, feeling as though it would break in two at the waist line.