Weak as she was, Scarlett was going home to Tara. She felt that she would stifle if she stayed in Atlanta another day, with her tired mind forcing itself round and round the deeply worn circle of futile thoughts about the mess she was in. She was sick in body and weary in mind and she was standing like a lost child in a nightmare country in which there was no familiar landmark to guide her. –Gone with the Wind
-
Will Benteen was unable to pick his sister-in law up at the station. Scarlett had known this in advance and had arranged for a taxi to take herself and the children to Tara. But now that she saw that man hired to escort them, Scarlett wished she could change her mind.
"James Jones, ma'am." He had tipped his hat to her and helped her into the carriage and whistled an eerie tune as he looked her over. Scarlett watched him, uneasy, as his eyes traveled up her expensive dress and down her arms and stopped at her left hand.
"Do you know where Tara Plantation is, sir?" She wished he would take the horses and start the journey instead of stare through the window at her.
"Sure do," he said, and finally went round to the front of the carriage. She patted the children's knees reassuringly and closed her eyes. How wonderful it would be to be back home. She would not have to think about Rhett or the baby she lost or the lumber mills or the store. She would only enjoy the tranquil peacefulness of Tara.
The children chatted animatedly with each other for the first few miles, but the warm sunlight that sprinkled through the windows slackened their eyelids, and soon the three of them were asleep.
-
Scarlett woke with a start. The carriage had stopped and someone was shaking her. She turned her head, and Mr. Jones was looking eagerly down at her. Scarlett's stomach lurched.
"Why have we stopped?" her voice came out cracked and scraggly.
"Get out of the carriage, lady. I don't want to scare your children." Horrified, she stared at him but he yanked her by the elbow and bodily pulled her out after him. She shrieked.
"Get your hands off of me you filthy-" the man silenced her with his steely gaze, and Scarlett shook with fear. What would she do if he raped her? The children were feet away!
"Your jewelry," he said, and gestured to her necklace and earbobs. Scarlett took them off with shaking hands. Rhett could buy her more. She hoped the man wouldn't touch her. She hadn't the strength to try to fight him so soon after her loss.
"The ring too, lady."
She raised her left hand to look at her wedding ring. Once she had given up her wedding band for the cause. Well, not really for the cause- more so to make herself forget what a horrible idea it had been to marry Charles Hamilton.
But she did not want to take this ring off. It was the ring Rhett had given her, the largest and most gaudy ring anyone had ever owned. Everyone hated it, and Scarlett adored it.
"Are you very rich, lady?" the man asked her as she stared down at her ring.
"No," she lied. "This ring is a family heirloom."
"And worth tons, I'm sure," said the man greedily. Because she was taking to long getting it off her finger, he seized her hand violently and tore it off himself and she cried out in pain. Then he slipped it in his pocket with the rest of her things.
"Your son got a watch or anything?" the man questioned, and his queer eyes turned towards the carriage.
"No!" said Scarlett sharply, too quickly. "He's far too young," she added.
"Saw your girl's barrette in her hair," said the man, and he turned as if to head towards the carriage.
"I'll get it for you!" Scarlett said hastily. She would not let that man near her children. How could this be happening to her? What had she done to deserve being robbed silly, just hours from her home?
She was glad to see the children were still asleep. Ella did not stir when Scarlett reached around to loosen the clip from her hair, and for once Scarlett was happy Ella was so weak. If Bonnie had been with, she would have refused to go to sleep and equally refused to give up her clip. Surely the man would have hurt them then.
Scarlett returned and the man snatched it from her hand. She had nothing else to give him. He already held her money pouch in his grimy hand.
"Just a minute,' he said, as if he had been pondering something. "I'll take that dress of yours, too. Could be worth a little something."
"Sir!" she was outraged. He would not leave her on a country road in her undergarments! But then she heard the familiar click of a gun and suddenly was staring into the black hole of a revolver.
"I ain't gonna rape you, because if you had the pleasure of remembering my face and I was caught, I'd be shot- and that don't work out too well for me. Even so, I think you'll be giving me your dress, ma'am."
-
Wade Hampton was shaken awake by his mother. She crouched over him over his eyes lifted and he saw that she was only in her shimmy- and where were her shoes?
"Ella, darling," Scarlett roused Ella out of her sleep and Wade heard Ella's startled "oh!" when she looked at her mother.
"Children," said Scarlett, and her voice was thick. "Our driver had an emergency and he had to take the horse and leave us. We'll walk as far as we can. Someone on the road will bring us to Tara." Wade did not believe her story. She was too shaken and naked for it to be true. Her jewelry was gone, Wade noticed, always observant.
Wade knew how emotional Ella could be. He took his teary-eyed sister by the hand and helped her out of the carriage. Sure enough, the horse was gone, and the man was nowhere in sight. Wade was smart and he knew they had been robbed.
-
"Mother, where are your clothes? Why haven't you got any shoes on?" Ella's high voice was bordering hysterical.
"Mother lost them," she told her daughter, "how silly of me. I went for a walk and I jumped in the stream and when I came out my things had disappeared!" She watched her daughter's face. Ella seemed torn on whether to believe her or not.
The truth was that once he had her out of her gown he had spotted her gold buckle shoes. He'd asked her if the buckles came off, and when they hadn't, her shoes were taken as well. Then he bid her good day, took the horse and left, whistling as he went. She had run after him, finding her courage and screaming with all her might, but it was no use. They had to find help, as soon as possible. She was weak and stranded, alone in her underthings with two young children, hours by carriage away from Tara. She could not remember if there were more houses or small towns along the way. It had been so long since she had been home.
She yearned for Rhett as she took her daughter's hand and began to walk achingly on the gravel road. But he was safe at home, far away.
-
It was nearly night time. No carriage had passed on the road. The children were tired, frightened, and very hungry. Scarlett had not packed a lunch for them because they were to be at Tara by lunchtime.
Scarlett's feet were raw and bloody and her pantalets were splattered with mud. The wind caught her hair and it snarled around her face, but Scarlett set her jaw and held her children's hands tighter. It was no use to cry until she knew she was safe. Then her eyes would surely never be dry again.
Wade had offered her his shoes once he'd seen the bloody footprints she left, but his feet were much too small and Scarlett would not have taken his shoes if they had fit. She told the children as many stories as she could think of, but soon she ran out of stories and their pace slowed. Without warning, it began to rain.
They took refuge under a large tree off the road, and when Scarlett sat down all of her energy disappeared. It could not be healthy for her to strain herself so, Scarlett thought wildly. Not so soon after the accident. She suddenly could not breath, and with shaking fingers Wade helped his mother out of her corset.
"Wade," said Scarlett, and her thoughts wandered foggily, "stay with Ella until the rain stops. Then keep walking. There's a plantation soon, I know there is." Why had she made them walk? Why couldn't she have stayed with the empty carriage?
"But mother- won't you be with us?" his scared eyes made her heart break, but she could not even lift her head.
"Wade, you're a big boy now. You'll almost be a man. When you find help you must see to your sister and send for uncle Rhett. I'm not- I don't think I can go any farther."
"You won't die, will you?" he demanded quietly, keeping his sister out of range. Scarlett wondered briefly if she would die.
"Of course not," she told him, but there was no solidity in her eyes, and Wade saw it.
-
When the rain stopped, the children slept, but the night was cold and Scarlett was worse off when the sun came up.
"Mother," said Wade. "Mother, please wake up!"
"Mother!" Ella sobbed.
"Ella," said Wade, remembering his mother's words, "come with me. We must find help for mother, alright?" The sullen little girl nodded through her tears, and Wade led his little sister away, glancing back only once.
-
"…Severely dehydrated. Her feet are cut up bad. Her little boy said she's only just recovered from an accident. No, the husband hasn't arrived yet. He's on his way now…"
Scarlett heard fuzzy voices, none of which she recognized. Everything hurt all over. She could barely move her feet without crying out and sharp pains in her ribs forced her to breathe out in short gasps. Scarlett opened her eyes.
"My God!" she screamed. "I'm blind! I've gone blind!" She kicked frantically, finding her strength in her panic.
"Hush!" said a woman's voice, and cool, strong hands held down Scarlett's violent ones. A thick cool towel was removed from Scarlett's eyes, and she blinked.
"Oh," she whispered. The woman smiled down at her, friendly and amused.
"Relax darling. You're safe. Your children are here and you're husband is on his way. Everything will be explained later. You go right back to sleep."
-
The woman was by the side of the bed when Scarlett woke. She was teary-eyed and grasped Scarlett's hand in her own.
"Oh, my darling. Your husband has told us all about your sad little accident. It's not wonder you were so weak when we found you!"
"Rhett? Rhett's here?"
"Of course, dear. Well, not at the moment. He took the children into town. You do have three lovely children, ma'am." Scarlett tried to sit up but was eased back down.
"Poor thing, he came in and took one look at you and cried his eyes out sitting at the edge of the bed. What a lucky woman you are, to have a man so devoted to you!" The woman introduced herself, but Scarlett did not hear her. She imagined her husband, holding her unconscious in his arms, crying. It was terribly difficult to picture.