Chapter 10

The bright morning sun did little to alleviate Scarlett's foul mood. Rhett had left her at the breakfast table to make arrangements for their tour of the haunted castles across the countryside. At first Scarlett pretended to be very cool to him hoping to make him feel guilty for injuring her vanity. She spoke very little, grabbed at the slightest opportunity to make some belittling remark and remained boorish. But Rhett refused to be enticed into an argument. He said once that he had only stated the truth and that was that. Scarlett could get no apology from him.

Once he left, she finished her scrambled eggs and toast and made her way to the hotel gardens. There were very few guests staying at the hotel and the garden paths were largely vacant. As she strolled down a trail, she recalled the events of last night. Rhett was certainly very different from any man she had ever met. She had once compared him with Ashley - how they both were adults and not boys and how they both eluded her understanding and control. Ashley baffled her because of his mysterious inner world - an impractical world that had long since ceased to exist since the war- and Rhett because of his damned contrariness. But at long last she understood Ashley and having understood him, she lost all the romantic allusions she had attributed to him. His drowsy grey eyes no longer excited her, nor his dignified gait nor his gentle ways. Now Rhett alone seemed wildly incomprehensible. She found her reactions to his love-making incomprehensible as well. Last night, he had unnecessarily harped on some very intimate secrets which she had shared with him months ago, secrets that had been confessed with the hope that they would bring better understanding between them both. Rhett now took her words and wielded it like a whip. How dare he say that she, Scarlett O Hara, didn't know the first thing about attracting a man? The entire statement was ridiculous! And then he slipped in those words about how sorry he was for his illicit relationships with other women. He was so very contrary! Tender and affectionate at one moment, rude and odious the next - whatever was he trying to do to her? And somehow as he kept jabbering on, he managed to put her senses on the alert-

Scarlett stopped in her tracks. A new thought struck her. She was beginning to see a pattern. Whenever Rhett kissed her, she was always a little more alive, a little more alert, a little more receptive-

She recalled his careless boast - that he had a way with women - Now that she thought of it, Rhett had a tall, muscular, powerful form and he always wore the latest suits that were perfectly tailored to fit his physique. He certainly had a strong presence but he very rarely flaunted his physical appearance when he wanted to make love to her. Other men often did. Through their acts of chivalry, other men unconsciously flexed their muscles, twirled their moustaches, coiffed their hair fondling imagining her to be stimulated by their fine physical qualities. But Rhett behaved differently. He placed greater emphasis on his words. Scarlett realized this with a laugh. That was his trick! He contrasted his speech with compliments and insults such that the listener would be put through a riot of emotions. And emotions were a weakness for any woman. No wonder his contrary speech had such a strange effect on her. She would get so stirred that her senses would go on the alert for the slightest deception on his part and then he would take her in his arms and she would be under his power.

No wonder Rhett was a favorite of women everywhere - they despised him, feared him, scorned him but very rarely resisted his charms - even Mrs. Merriweather and Mrs. Meade - he always knew exactly what to say to get any woman interested.

"How very clever!" thought Scarlett, pondering along these lines until she became more and more sure of Rhett's suave ways. "Yes that was it! His ridiculous statements, barbs and quips - all somehow bringing me alive-" She remembered when he had first kissed her hand. His lips had touched the hollow of her palm and then worked their way up to her wrist and she had felt as if she wanted to run her fingers through his hair and feel his lips upon hers. He had aroused her so much so that she was begging for a kiss instead of the other way around! But she confused this with her feelings of love and not with the pointless chatter that took place just before his hand-kissing. Now the point-less chatter seemed not so very pointless at all. Words seemed to put everything into perspective. He made an emotional connection, even if it was an outrageous one and he made love.

"I could try the same-" thought Scarlett, hopefully and then her face fell. She had tried to flatter and coquet him once before and had failed miserably. She had called him "the great blockader" , "noble" and "heroic" but he had laughed outright to her face and called her a coward. He was so very contemptuous of her and women in general that she had ceased to respect him since then or bother herself about him due to his unpredictable ways-

And then there was some truth to Rhett's statement last night. Even when she had loved Ashley, her thoughts never went beyond a kiss or that dream moment in front of the altar when they would share their wedding vows. It had been the same with any man. She fluttered her eyelids, threw gay, dimpled smiles, swayed her hips and walked on her toes until she got the attention of her beaus and had them begging her for a kiss. But she had never thought of what she would do beyond giving a kiss. She assumed that marriage and her husband would take care of that!

Scarlett heard her name being called and looked up from her pensive thoughts.

Rhett stood at the crest of the hill, beckoning her to their carriage and as she double-backed on her trail, she decided firmly that whether she was going to beat Rhett at his game or not, she certainly wasn't going to listen- especially when he went out of his way to annoy and confuse her.

They spent all afternoon roaming the gray stone halls of the most haunted castle in the countryside. Rhett had already been there once before so he knew his way around and took Scarlett with him. The castle bore the tale of a deranged lord who buried his youthful mistress alive within the walls. Her ghost came back to haunt him, making him jump down the stairwell and break his neck. Since then, anyone who stayed at the castle suddenly heard bricks shaking loose in the night. And once when someone came to check up on the noise, they found a brick or two fallen on the ground and an object that looked like a skeleton's hand, reaching out, as if the mistress was trying to claw her way back to the world!

"Oh,Rhett, don't!" cried Scarlett, fancying that she heard the noise of loose bricks just then. She jumped when she heard an odd thud from the next room. "Saints preserve us, what was that?"

"That is probably the lord jumping once again from the stairwell. They say a blood stain appears fresh every single day. I'll show you." Rhett laughed. "There's nothing to be afraid of, honey. The first time I came here, I was alone with the caretaker and it was raining cats and dogs outside. It was all very thrilling!"

"You would find it thrilling!"

"And I distinctly heard the rumble of bricks-"

As he said the words, a strange rumbling sound resounded through the halls. Scarlett's eyes went round with fright and when she turned, she caught a dark figure, hovering a few feet over the floorboards and sailing past the corridor. She dug her nails into Rhett's arm, too white and frightened to scream. Rhett gazed after the apparition, almost gratified to witness such a spectacle.

The ghosts weren't the only attractions in the castle. It was an ancient place handed down from generation to generation - once even kings lived there. So, it had a lot of history. And it was expressed in woven tapestries and paintings which adorned the upper halls. As they toured these halls, Rhett began to relate the story behind any unusual tapestry or artwork and somehow connected it with their own country's culture. Scarlett realized that he was actually giving her a history lesson but he had an odd way of telling his stories. He mixed a good deal of humor and obscenity into it that it was impossible to listen without getting interested. He talked at length on architecture and art. Again, mixing his words with strange anecdotes and quotations.

"You know I've always hated history." said Scarlett, in genuine admiration. "But you make it seem so very interesting!"

"That is because,my poor child, your teachers taught you history lessons but didn't explain the evil behind why men did what they did- Evil always makes things very interesting. My father prided himself on his knowledge of history. But I could always tell a story better than him because I delved into the crass intentions behind every war and every feud - I explained it from that perspective that he would get infuriated. He would try to paint the historical scenes as something noble and I would do just the opposite-"

"You have a different perspective on anything-" said Scarlett, casually. "When I first heard of you from Cathleen Calvert, she told me how you took that Charleston girl out riding in the evening without a chaperone and how the carriage broke and you had to bring her home by walk and after that, you refused to marry her. I respected you for your decision. I thought- why should you marry a girl when you thought that she was such a fool?"

Rhett paused his speech and stared at her. He stared at her for a long time. Scarlett couldn't discern the look in his eyes. He suddenly took a deep thoughtful breath and said gravely, "So, you think what I did was right?"

Scarlett seemed nonplussed at this question. "Yes. Why should you marry her? Just because you were with her after dark doesn't mean you would have compromised her- that's a foolish reason to get married!"

"And what about when I shot her brother?"

"Well, you are a fine shot,Rhett and her brother deserved it. He should have used his brain and not listened to Charleston's ramblings about honor and duty-" Scarlett paused and blinked. "Didn't you know that you were right?"

Rhett shrugged naively. "I knew I was right but this is the first time I've heard another person say it-"

Scarlett considered his words and realized they were true. She had thought many things about Rhett but she had never actually told him anything much. She always assumed he didn't deserve any kind words because of his reputation and his open contempt for others.

"My father was furious that night-" said Rhett, recalling the incident. "He drove me out of the house."

"Well, I would have done the same in his place. My goodness, what a handful, you must have been." retaliated Scarlett, spiritedly. She remembered her own headaches with Ella during that awful day at the Commercial Market street. "It isn't as if all his chastisements had an effect on you. It isn't as if you tried to live up to his expectations of a saintly life! You defied his orders and enjoyed yourself as best as possible- a nightmare of a son for an old-school gentleman like him! He must have had such fine ambitions for you where you could live poorly with honor and there you were gambling your time away and getting rich! He should have twisted your ear and whomped you hard on your bottom for all the trouble you gave him!"

Scarlett said the words indifferently but they produced a remarkable effect on Rhett. He blushed - he actually blushed and grinned warmly as if he enjoyed her teasing. "I drove my father absolutely wild with anger!" he laughed, relishing the memory of his early days. "He could never win an argument with me!"

"Then why do you act so injured and hurting, my sweet hypocrite?" nudged Scarlett, her eyes twinkling with glee. She was genuinely surprised by his diffident reaction. "It isn't as if you repented from your ways!"

Rhett beamed at her and putting an arm around her shoulders, he gave her a tight squeeze. Scarlett gazed at him, surprised once again by how differently he reacted to her jibes. He seemed to take it as a sign of affection. How very strange indeed!