Gone with the Wind Page #3

CHARLES:

Well, I'll show him.

ASHLEY:

No, no, no, please, don't go tweaking his nose

anymore. You may be needed for more important

fighting, Charles. Now if you'll excuse me, Mr.

Butler's our guest... I think I'll just show him

around.

(Ashley leaves the hall with intention of walking

Butler around the house. But before he can do this,

Scarlett calls him into a detached room.)

SCARLETT:

Ashley!

ASHLEY:

Scarlett...who are you hiding from here?...What are

you up to? Why aren't you upstairs resting with the

other girls? What is this, Scarlett? A secret?

SCARLETT:

Well, Ashley, Ashley...! love you.

ASHLEY:

Scarlett...

SCARLETT:

I love you, I do.

ASHLEY:

Well, isn't it enough that you gathered every other

man's heart today? You always had mine. You cut your

teeth on it.

SCARLETT:

Oh, don't tease me now. Have I your heart my darling?

I love you, I love you...

ASHLEY:

You mustn't say such things. You'll hate me for

hearing them.

SCARLETT:

Oh, I could never hate you and, and I know you must

care about me. Oh, you do care, don't you?

ASHLEY:

Yes, I care. Oh can't we go away and forget we ever

said these things?

SCARLETT:

But how can we do that? Don't you, don't you want to

marry me? ASHLEY

I'm going to marry Melanie.

SCARLETT:

But you can't, not if you care for me.

ASHLEY:

Oh my dear, why must you make me say things that will

hurt you? How can I make you understand? You're so

young and I'm thinking, you don't know what marriage

means.

SCARLETT:

I know I love you and I want to be your wife. You

don't love Melanie.

ASHLEY:

She's like me, Scarlett. She's part of my blood, we

understand each other.

SCARLETT:

But you love me!

ASHLEY:

How could I help loving you? You have all the passion

for life that I lack. But that kind of love isn't

enough to make a successful marriage for two people

who are as different as we are.

SCARLETT:

Why don't you say it, you coward? You're afraid to

marry me. You'd rather live with that silly little

fool who can't open her mouth except to say "yes",

no and raise a houseful of mealy-mouthed brats just

like her!

ASHLEY:

You mustn't say things like that about Melanie.

SCARLETT:

Who are you to tell me I mustn't? You led me on, you

made me believe you wanted to marry me!

ASHLEY:

Now Scarlett, be fair. I never at any time...

SCARLETT:

You did, it's true, you did! I'll hate you till I

die! I can't think of anything bad enough to call

you...

(Ashley leaves. Scarlett throws a vase to the wall

in anger. The crashing of the vase startles Rhett

Butler. He rises up from the couch in a dark corner

of the room.)

RHETT:

Has the war started?

SCARLETT:

Sir, you...you should have made your presence known.

RHETT:

In the middle of that beautiful love scene? That

wouldn't have been very tactful, would it? But don't

worry. Your secret is safe with me.

SCARLETT:

Sir, you are no gentleman.

RHETT:

And you miss are no lady. Don't think that I hold

that against you. Ladies have never held any charm

for me.

SCARLETT:

First you take a low, common advantage of me, then

you insult me!

RHETT:

I meant it as a compliment. And I hope to see more of

you when you're free of the spell of the elegant Mr.

Wilkes. He doesn't strike me as half good enough for

a girl of your...what was it...your passion for

living?

SCARLETT:

How dare you! You aren't fit to wipe his boot!

RHETT:

And you were going to hate him for the rest of your

life.

Chapter 3 Scarlett Marrying Charles

(Outside, there's chaos. Gentlemen, including

Ashley, are leaving for the call of war.)

CHARLES:

Miss 0' Hara! Miss 0' Hara, isn't it thrilling? Mr.

Lincoln has called the soldiers, volunteers to fight

against us.

SCARLETT:

Oh, fiddle-dee-dee. Don't you men ever think about

anything important?

CHARLES:

But it's war, Miss O'Hara! And everybody's going off

to enlist, they're going right away. I'm going, too!

SCARLETT:

Everybody?

CHARLES:

Oh, Miss O'Hara, will you be sorry? To see us go, I

mean.

SCARLETT:

I'll cry to my pillow every night.

CHARLES:

Oh, Miss O'Hara, I've told you I loved you. I think

you're the most beautiful girl in the world. And the

sweetest, the dearest. I know that I couldn't hope

that you could love me, so clumsy and stupid, not

nearly good enough for you. But if you could, if you

could think of marrying me, I'd do anything in the

world for you, just anything, I promise!

SCARLETT:

Oh, what did you say?

CHARLES:

Miss O'Hara, I said, would you marry me?

SCARLETT:

Yes, Mr. Hamilton, I will.

CHARLES:

You will, you'll marry me? You'll wait for me?

SCARLETT:

Well, I don't think I'd want to wait.

CHARLES:

You mean you'll marry me before I go? Oh, Miss

O'Hara...Scarlett...when may I speak to your father?

SCARLETT:

The sooner, the better.

CHARLES:

I'll go now, I can't wait. Will you excuse me? Dear?

(The day after Melanie and Ashley's wedding,

Scarlett marries Charles Hamilton.)

MELANIE:

Scarlett. I thought of you at our wedding yesterday

and I hope that yours would be as beautiful. And it

was.

SCARLETT:

Was it?

MELANIE:

Now we're really and truly sisters. Charles.

CHARLES:

Don't cry darling. The war will be over in a few

weeks and I'll be coming back to you.

Chapter 4 Scarlett's Second Contact with Butler

(Charles died at the front, but Scarlett is not at

all sad. She goes to the donation party with Melanie,

wearing black.)

DR. MEADE

Ladies and gentlemen. I have important news, glorious

news. Another triumph for our magnificent men in

arms. General Lee has completely whipped the enemy

and swept the Yankee army northward from Virginia!

And now, a happy surprise for all of us! We have with

us tonight that most daring of all blockade runners,

whose fleet "schooners slipping past the Yankee guns

have brought us here the very woolens and laces we

wear tonight. I refer, ladies and gentlemen, to that

will o'the wisp of the bounding main, none other than

our friend from Charleston, Captain Rhett Butler!

MELANIE:

Captain Butler, such a pleasure to see you again. I

met you last at my husband's home.

RHETT:

That's kind of you to remember, Mrs. Wilkes.

MELANIE:

Did you meet Captain Butler at Twelve Oaks, Scarlett?

SCARLETT:

Yes I, I think so.

RHETT:

Only for a moment, Mrs. Hamilton, it was in the

library. You, uh, had broken something.

SCARLETT:

Yes, Captain Butler, I remember you.

MAN:

Ladies, the Confederacy asks for your jewelry on

behalf of our noble cause.

SCARLETT:

We aren't wearing any, we're in mourning.

RHETT:

Wait. On behalf of Mrs. Wilkes and Mrs. Hamilton.

MAN:

Thank you, Captain Butler.

MELANIE:

Just a moment, please.

MAN:

But, it's your wedding ring, ma'am.

MELANIE:

It may help my husband more, off my finger.

MAN:

Thank you.

RHETT:

It was a very beautiful thing to do, Mrs. Wilkes.

SCARLETT:

Here, you can have mine, too. For the cause.

RHETT:

And you Mrs. Hamilton. I know just how much that

means to you.

MAN:

Melanie. I need your approval as a member of the

committee with something we want to do, that's rather

shocking. Will you excuse us, please?

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