His remote eyes came back to her swiftly and he smiled a brief smile that never reached his eyes.
“ I had forgotten you were so literal. No, it’s not the Yankees I’m afraid of. I mean if I go to Atlanta and take help from you again, I bury forever any hope of ever standing alone.”
“ Oh,” she sighed in quick relief, “if it’s only that!”
“ Yes,” and he smiled again, the smile more wintry than before. “Only that. Only my masculine pride, my self-respect and, if you choose to so call it, my immortal soul.”
“ But,” she swung around on another tack, “you could gradually buy the mill from me and it would be your own and then —”
“ Scarlett,” he interrupted fiercely, “I tell you, no! There are other reasons.”
“ What reasons?”
“ You know my reasons better than anyone in the world.”
“
