I don't get invited to many parties."
"Wade, you are lying!" cried Scarlett, turning.
"You went to three last week, the Bart children's party and the Gelerts' and the Hundons'."
"As choice a collection of mules in horse harness as you could group together," said Rhett, his voice going into a soft drawl.
"Did you have a good time at those parties?
Speak up."
"No, sir."
"Why not?"
"I--I dunno, sir.
Mammy--Mammy says they're white trash."
"I'll skin Mammy this minute!" cried Scarlett, leaping to her feet.
"And as for you, Wade, talking so about Mother's friends--"
"The boy's telling the truth and so is Mammy," said Rhett.
"But, of course, you've never been able to know the truth if you met it in the road. . . . Don't bother, son.
You don't have to go to any more parties you don't want to go to.
Here," he pulled a bill from his pocket, "tell Pork to harness the carriage and take you downtown.
Buy yourself some candy--a lot, enough to give you a wonderful stomach ache."
Wade, beaming, pocketed the bill and looked anxiously toward his mother for confirmation.
But she, with a pucker in her brows, was watching Rhett.
He had picked Bonnie from the floor and was cradling her to him, her small face against his cheek.
She could not read his face but there was something in his eyes almost like fear--fear and self-accusation.
Wade, encouraged by his stepfather's generosity, came shyly toward him.
"Uncle Rhett, can I ask you sumpin'?"
"Of course."
Rhett's look was anxious, absent, as he held Bonnie's head closer.
"What is it, Wade?"
"Uncle Rhett, were you--did you fight in the war?"
Rhett's eyes came alertly back and they were sharp, but his voice was casual.
"Why do you ask, son?"
"Well, Joe Whiting said you didn't and so did Frankie Bonnell."
"Ah," said Rhett, "and what did you tell them?"
Wade looked unhappy.
"I--I said--I told them I didn't know."
And with a rush, "But I didn't care and I hit them.
Were you in the war, Uncle Rhett?"
"Yes," said Rhett, suddenly violent.
"I was in the war.
I was in the army for eight months.
I fought all the way from Lovejoy up to Franklin, Tennessee.
And I was with Johnston when he surrendered."
Wade wriggled with pride but Scarlett laughed.
"I thought you were ashamed of your war record," she said.
"Didn't you tell me to keep it quiet?"
"Hush," he said briefly.
"Does that satisfy you, Wade?"
"Oh, yes, sir!
I knew you were in the war.
I knew you weren't scared like they said.
But--why weren't you with the other little boys' fathers?"
"Because the other little boys' fathers were such fools they had to put them in the infantry.