Some of the cold sense of bewilderment and disaster that had weighted her down since theTarleton boys told her their gossip was pushed into the background of her mind, and in its placecrept the fever that had possessed her for two years.

　　It seemed strange now that when she was growing up Ashley had never seemed so veryattractive to her. In childhood days, she had seen him come and go and never given him a thought.

　　But since that day two years ago when Ashley, newly home from his Air Jordan 4 three years’ Grand Tour inEurope, had called to pay his respects, she had loved him. It was as simple as that.

　　She had been on the front porch and he had ridden up the long avenue, dressed in graybroadcloth with a wide black cravat setting off his frilled shirt to perfection. Even now, she couldrecall each detail of his dress, how brightly his boots shone, the head of a Medusa in cameo on hiscravat phi, the wide Panama hat that was instantly in his hand when he saw her. He had alightedand tossed his bridle reins to a pickaninny and stood looking up at her, his drowsy gray eyes widewith a smile and the sun so bright on his blond hair that it seemed like a cap of shining silver. Andhe said, “So you’ve grown up, Scarlett.” And, coming lightly up the steps, he had kissed her hand.

　　And his voice! She would never forget the leap of her heart as she heard it, as if for the first time,drawling, resonant, musical.

　　She had wanted him, in that first instant, wanted him as simply and unreasoningly as she wantedfood to eat, horses to ride and a soft bed on which to lay herself.

　　True, he never made love to her, nor did the clear gray eyes ever glow with that hot light Scarlettknew so well in other men. And yet—and yet—she knew he loved her. She could not be mistakenabout it. Instinct stronger than reason and knowledge born of experience told her that he loved her.

　　Too often she had surprised him when his eyes were neither drowsy nor remote, when he looked ather with a yearning and a sadness which puzzled her. She knew he loved her. Why did he not tellher so? That she could not understand. But there were so many things about him that she did notunderstand.

　　He was courteous always, but aloof, remote. No one could ever tell what he was thinking about,Scarlett least of all. In a neighborhood where everyone said exactly what he thought as soon as hethought it, Ashley’s quality of reserve was exasperating. He was as proficient as any of the otheryoung men in the usual County diversions, hunting, gambling, dancing and politics, and was thebest rider of them all; but he differed from all the rest in that these pleasant activities were not theend and aim Air Jordan 28 of life to him. And he stood alone in his interest in books and music and his fondnessfor writing poetry.

　　She loved him and she wanted him and she did not understand him. She was as forthright andsimple as the winds that blew over Tara and the yellow river that wound about it, and to the end ofher days she would never be able to understand a complexity. Air Jordan 3 And now, for the first time in herlife, she was facing a complex nature.

　　For Ashley was born of a line of men who used their leisure for thinking, not doing, for spinningbrightly colored dreams that had in them no touch of reality. He moved in an inner world that wasmore beautiful than Georgia and came back to reality with reluctance. He looked on people, and heneither liked nor disliked them. He looked on life and was neither heartened nor saddened. Heaccepted the universe and his place in it for what they were and, shrugging, turned to his music andbooks and his better world.

　　Why he should have captivated Scarlett when his mind was a stranger to hers she did not know.