Chapter 20

Aunt Eulalie was at her gracious best when Scarlett stepped out of her carriage and entered the high imprisoning walls of the crumbling house on the Battery. Her Aunt had softened tremendously, seeing the warm courtesy in Scarlett's letter. The house had been repaired and Scarlett knew that this was because of the generous checks she had written to both her Aunts. But they would never appreciate it. It was just one of those obligatory duties of a niece to her Aunts.

Scarlett expected a barrage of point-blank questions regarding her Atlanta store and the mills. Rhett had been perverse enough to divulge several unsavory details of her "soiling her hands" in trade. But no such questions came. Scarlett was vaguely disappointed. So, she herself went on to explain that she had given up both the store and the mills. This pleased her Aunt tremendously.

"Well, you mustn't let your daughter's sad demise hurt you any more, dear" she said, eagerly. "Now that you've sold your store, why don't you move here to Charleston? During his last visit, Captain Butler was most concerned for your health and safety. His handsome dark eyes grew dim with such sorrow. How your actions must have hurt him! And we could give him no excuses on your behalf and it embarrassed us! We are responsible for your behavior too-"

Scarlett bore all this with remarkable patience. At the first real chance she had, she quickly interrupted her Aunt with the recent happenings at Aunt Pauline's. This produced a remarkable effect on Aunt Eulalie. She straightened up at once in shock. "Well well ,I must say, it was most imprudent of Pauline to have spoken of Phillippe Robillard! Most imprudent indeed!" She clicked her tongue and looked distressed. As an afterthought she added, "And now your dear sister had joined the convent, hasn't she?"

Scarlett pretended to be very upset. "If.. if you could only be so kind as to elaborate on how all this came about, Aunt Eulalie, I would put it all behind me and be at peace. Aunt Pauline's words were so abrupt and crisp. Surely that is not enough to understand-"

Now Aunt Eulalie looked dismayed. "But, that's all there is, Scarlett dear. Your Mother was forbidden to marry Phillippe for he was a renegade. He was the black sheep of the Robillard family and Father knew that to marry him was to invite dishonor upon the family. You Mother took this in very poor taste. And we couldn't allow her to join the convent-"

"Why not?"

"My dear!" , cried Aunt Eulalie, outraged. "It is not necessary for a woman of aristocratic lineage to join a convent. They have other women of lesser births to do that. Why, a woman went to a convent to forget the world. Why should a Robillard forget the world? And such a fine, royal world with so many servants and such luxuries!Your Mother was a pretty girl and she was fifteen when she fell in love with Phillippe. I ask you, what girl of fifteen would harbor such ardent love for a man that his death should send her spiraling to the protective cocoon of a convent? I..I believe your Mother purposely wanted to go against her Father's authority on the matter. He wouldn't have allowed her to marry that wild rogue and it was all for her good. I believe he was right in driving Phillippe away. He was not to be received by any of the Robillard families. And finally, where did he die? In a saloon! and how? In a drunken brawl!"

Aunt Eulalie's face twisted in bitterness as she spoke the words.

"Your headstrong Mother, unsatisfied with having hurt her Father, proceeded to hurt him further by isolating herself at Tara." Aunt Eulalie's quivering voice ebbed away. She bit her lips thin and tight. Scarlett had seen this look before on Aunt Pauline's face. She knew she had reached her limit of questioning. No amount of exhortation would revel further secrets about her Mother.

"There was one Sister Mary Clarence who was the same age as your Mother. She was a Catholic girl and she was your Mother's great friend when she was a young girl. She became a nun around the time your Mother left for Tara with Mr. O Hara. You might run into her when you visit your dear sister at the Charleston convent-"

Rosemary accompanied Scarlett to the Charleston convent. When Scarlett had expressed her intentions of visiting Careen and Sister Clarence, Rosemary had been the one to speak to the Abbess of the convent and get her permission to see them.

Scarlett could hardly recognize Careen as she approached them from the far corner of the chapel where she had been praying. Her habit skirt looked most unflattering giving her a large shapeless form. A pure white neckerchief covered up to her chin and there was a black cord around her neck which bore a wooden cross. Not one wisp of hair was to be seen for it was all concealed tightly under her black and white cap. Her face looked docile and gentle as ever but there was a distant, unworldly look in her eyes that disturbed Scarlett.

Careen kissed Scarlett and sat down beside her. Careen spoke at length about her orderly, prayerful life at the convent. About her life of happy servitude to God and to men. As she spoke, Scarlett felt as if she were listening to a much older woman than herself and not to a young girl in her early twenties. She said as much to Rosemary when Careen had left.

"I never understood why she wanted to live in this convent in the first place" remarked Scarlett, curiously running her eyes over the ancient buildings and chapel of the Charleston convent. "Perhaps she did love Brent Tarleton and perhaps his death did have an effect on her. But, goodness, she was only fifteen! What could a girl of fifteen know of love? And now to lock herself away like this.. losing touch with reality! If I were in her place it would drive me insane!"

Rosemary looked thoughtful.

"No, Scarlett. I understand this because I see it this way. Your sister was indeed young when she loved her beau. And now that he is dead, she prays for his soul in Purgatory. Now, if she weren't in a convent, she would have to marry some other man and she would be expected to have many children - at least four or five."

"Yes, that's right" agreed Scarlett, with a nod. "Careen could have done that. It makes much more common sense!"

"It makes sense to you Scarlett because you are so full of good sense! Your sister is different. She doesn't appear to have gotten over her beau's death even now! Don't you see? By joining the convent, she is freed of being shackled to another man and of the responsibilities of a wife. She is free to pursue her own interests, serving God and saying prayers are one thing. But there is also activities like teaching, visiting and caring for orphans, widows and elderly people and studying texts- A woman can pursue an intellectual direction in a convent as well - if she had the money for it."

"I do send her some money-"

"Then she has the money for it. She will belong to her beau forever and she is free from the obligations of marrying another man and from being isolated as a spinster otherwise- To be a Catholic nun is respectable ,honorable and very much acceptable in our society-"

Scarlett's knitted brows cleared with understanding. Why, of course, how very clever! She gazed in admiration at Rosemary's depth of knowing people. "But.. but she looks different somehow. You have never seen Careen before,Rosemary. She is such a delicate little thing, rosy cheeks and skin, whiter than mine. She still looks that way but something seems to have changed-"

"The light has gone out of her eyes" mused Rosemary, softly.

"What?"

"Oh, Scarlett, I've seen such faces before. I'm sure you've seen them too. Faces with eyes that have lost their glow, lips would never smile those warm and affectionate smiles except out of formality, voices that would never ring with spontaneity or giggle with pleasure-"

As she spoke the words, a shiver ran down Scarlett's spine. She remembered seeing such a face. It was the face of her Mother. Careen was starting to look like her Mother, so gentle and so kind but devoid of humor and that warm glow of passionate love.

"Just like Mother"