He done tole me so hisseff, not mo'n an hour ago."
"But he can't--he isn't--"
"Dat's huccome Ah say he los' his mine."
"But why--"
"Miss Melly, Ah tell you eve'ything.
Ah oughtn' tell nobody, but you is our fambly an' you is de onlies' one Ah kin tell.
Ah tell you eve'ything.
You knows whut a sto' he set by dat chile.
Ah ain' never seed no man, black or w'ite, set sech a sto' by any chile.
Look lak he go plumb crazy w'en Doctah Meade say her neck broke.
He grab his gun an' he run right out an' shoot dat po' pony an', fo' Gawd, Ah think he gwine shoot hisseff.
Ah wuz plumb 'stracted whut wid Miss Scarlett in a swoon an' all de neighbors in an' outer de house an' Mist' Rhett cahyin' on an' jes' holin' dat chile an' not even lettin' me wash her lil face whar de grabble cut it.
An' w'en Miss Scarlett come to, Ah think, bress Gawd!
Now dey kin comfo't each other."
Again the tears began to fall but this time Mammy did not even wipe them away.
"But w'en she come to, she go inter de room whar he settin', holin' Miss Bonnie, an' she say:
'Gimme mah baby whut you kilt.'"
"Oh, no!
She couldn't!"
"Yas'm. Dat whut she say.
She say:
'You kilt her.'
An' Ah felt so sorry fer Mist' Rhett Ah bust out cryin', kase he look lak a whup houn'.
An' Ah say:
'Give dat chile ter its mammy.
Ah ain' gwine have no sech goin's on over mah Lil Miss.' An' Ah tek de chile away frum him an' tek her inter her room an' wash her face.
An' Ah hear dem talkin' an' it lak ter tuhn mah blood cole, whut dey say.
Miss Scarlett wuz callin' him a mudderer fer lettin' her try ter jump dat high, an' him sayin' Miss Scarlett hadn' never keered nuthin' 'bout Miss Bonnie nor none of her chillun. . . ."
"Stop, Mammy!
Don't tell me any more.
It isn't right for you to tell me this!" cried Melanie, her mind shrinking away from the picture Mammy's words evoked.
"Ah knows Ah got no bizness tellin' you, but mah heart too full ter know jes' whut not ter say.
Den he tuck her ter de unnertaker's hisseff an' he bring her back an' he put her in her baid in his room.
An' w'en Miss Scarlett say she b'long in de pahlor in de coffin, Ah thought Mist' Rhett gwine hit her.
An' he say, right cole lak:
'She b'long in mah room.'
An' he tuhn ter me an' he say:
'Mammy, you see dat she stay right hyah tell Ah gits back.'
Den he light outer de house on de hawse an' he wuz gone tell 'bout sundown.
W'en he come t'arin' home, Ah seed dat he'd been drinkin' an' drinkin' heavy, but he wuz cahyin' it well's usual.
He fling inter de house an' not even speak ter Miss Scarlett or Miss Pitty or any of de ladies as wuz callin', but he fly up de steps an' th'ow open de do' of his room an' den he yell for me.
W'en Ah comes runnin' as fas' as Ah kin, he wuz stan'in' by de baid an' it wuz so dahk in de room Ah couldn' sceercely see him, kase de shutters wuz done drawed.
"An' he say ter me, right fierce lak:
'Open dem shutters.
It's dahk in hyah.' An' Ah fling dem open an' he look at me an', fo' Gawd, Miss Melly, mah knees 'bout give way, kase he look so strange.
Den he say:
'Bring lights.
Bring lots of lights.
An' keep dem buhnin'.
An' doan draw no shades an' no shutters.