Why, convicts are the only--"
Melanie looked down into her lap at her twisted hands.
Ashley looked unhappy but obdurate.
For a moment he was silent. Then his gaze crossed Rhett's and it was as if he found understanding and encouragement in Rhett's eyes--a glance that was not lost on Scarlett.
"I won't work convicts, Scarlett," he said quietly.
"Well, sir!" her breath was taken away.
"And why not?
Are you afraid people will talk about you like they do about me?"
Ashley raised his head.
"I'm not afraid of what people say as long as I'm right.
And I have never felt that convict labor was right."
"But why--"
"I can't make money from the enforced labor and misery of others."
"But you owned slaves!"
"They weren't miserable.
And besides, I'd have freed them all when Father died if the war hadn't already freed them.
But this is different, Scarlett.
The system is open to too many abuses.
Perhaps you don't know it but I do.
I know very well that Johnnie Gallegher has killed at least one man at his camp.
Maybe more--who cares about one convict, more or less?
He said the man was killed trying to escape, but that's not what I've heard elsewhere.
And I know he works men who are too sick to work.
Call it superstition, but I do not believe that happiness can come from money made from the sufferings of others."
"God's nightgown!
You mean--goodness, Ashley, you didn't swallow all the Reverend Wallace's bellowings about tainted money?"
"I didn't have to swallow it.
I believed it long before he preached on it."
"Then, you must think all my money is tainted," cried Scarlett beginning to be angry.
"Because I worked convicts and own saloon property and--" She stopped short.
Both the Wilkes looked embarrassed and Rhett was grinning broadly.
Damn him, thought Scarlett, vehemently.
He's thinking that I'm sticking my finger in other people's pies again and so is Ashley.
I'd like to crack their heads together!
She swallowed her wrath and tried to assume an aloof air of dignity but with little success.
"Of course, it's immaterial to me," she said.
"Scarlett, don't think I'm criticizing you!
I'm not.
It's just that we look at things in different ways and what is good for you might not be good for me."
She suddenly wished that they were alone, wished ardently that Rhett and Melanie were at the end of the earth, so she could cry out:
"But I want to look at things the way you look at them!
Tell me just what you mean, so I can understand and be like you!"
But with Melanie present, trembling with the distress of the scene, and Rhett lounging, grinning at her, she could only say with as much coolness and offended virtue as she could muster:
"I'm sure it's your own business, Ashley, and far be it from me to tell you how to run it.
But, I must say, I do not understand your attitude or your remarks."
Oh, if they were only alone, so she would not be forced to say these cool things to him, these words that were making him unhappy!
"I've offended you, Scarlett, and I did not mean to.
You must believe me and forgive me.
There is nothing enigmatic in what I said.
It is only that I believe that money which comes in certain ways seldom brings happiness."