Chapter 32
Scarlett and Suellen paid their visit to the Anderson family the following week. Mrs. Anderson profusely affirmed again and again how much she was inclined to put the whole barbeque incident behind her and in the next few minutes she bought the conversation a full circle to the unfortunate barbeque party once again. Scarlett very nearly forgot her promise to Jeb and only when she caught him standing anxiously by the window did she remember her task. She had been busy mulling over Rhett that she had missed most of the conversation but now she listened keenly to what Suellen was saying.
Mrs. Anderson looked at Scarlett from time to time and somewhere during the conversation she remembered thinking how distant and coldly courteous the older sister was compared to the younger one. But towards the end, she realized that she had made a mistake. For suddenly their conversation had taken a very pleasant swerve and the same older sister was now full of good humor and gaiety. Scarlett began her turn in the conversation by recounting how amiable her earliest Yankee customers had been and how much she had liked their views and ideas. She went into whist and it turned out Mrs. Anderson played whist too. Suellen looked a little surprised at this revelation but kept quiet. She saved all this information for later. Mrs. Anderson went from being pleased to being flattered. Scarlett persuaded that the Anderson family and their circumstance here in Clayton County was purely God's doing and there was a grand meaning behind it and the Georgian people would soon welcome them all in open arms. While she spoke all this, she could not help thinking how Mrs. Anderson looked like a well-fed pig just then, digging its snout in the trough and looked up, eyes wide with a mouth full of food.
When they finally prepared to leave, Scarlett asked to see the place and Mrs. Anderson introduced her eldest son and asked him to show them around. They walked along the garden path and then across the lawns and a grove and finally they could see the edge of the grove where the trees grew scarce and the ground dipped into swampland.
"You must have a huge difficulty with the swamp so close by-"
"Oh yes! We keep losing our animals to swamp trappers and some of them are even bold enough to steal from our hen coops. But I wont go into our domestic affairs. They must bore you." replied George Anderson.
"Oh..no.. not at all" replied Scarlett, flashing a charming smile. "I know it must be hard for you all to live here so far away from your own people. Even the help around the house must be so unreliable- I suppose that's one area that we ourselves can boast about. We have still got our loyal people about the house.. they are all happy and contented to just stay with us till they turn old and grey and they are so good at the work they do.. not like the free folk who you can't trust with a sack of cotton-"
Suellen looked bewildered from Scarlett to George wondering what on earth her sister was talking about.
They turned back to the house.
"Goodness, when I see a swamp like this, I remember how our sow and her chitterlings were lost in their depths.. It was just after the war and food was scarce and we needed able hands to keep Tara going- Suellen, do you remember going into the swamp, calling out for the sow? No? That's right. Because only people who know about the swamp can go boldly inside and retrieve the lost animals. Swampland isn't for everyone and there are so many things hiding in there.. you would need a man who was a good straight shooter. Luckily we have one."
Before Scarlett could signal the carriage to take them away, she stuck her head out and said, "During the old days, my Pa never thought twice about buying slaves from one plantation to another. When he saw an opportunity he took it and he was well respected for having able bodied men to work for him. He often said, it brought families closer."
After a month, Jeb found a new job at the Anderson's home.
Scarlett found an odd pleasure in helping that man find a secure place to provide for his family. And Jeb was happy too and so were the Anderson's. How subtly she had dropped hints here and there, during every visit about Jeb and how well he could shoot. Yes, she had played a large part in his success. And how had he thanked her? By bringing a young black girl from Savannah who was hiding in Macon. This girl also needed a home but the difficulty was she spoke fluent French and very little English. She could sew well and she was a very good lady's maid. But she was unable to find work because she couldn't speak English. Could Scarlett find a place for her too?
Scarlett looked at the girl from head to toe, noticing how crisp and proper she looked in her pressed calico dress and how find her embroidery work was displayed on her parlour table.
She began to wonder which family she could persuade this girl into.