She meant what she said, for she could never long endure any

conversation of which she was not the chief subject.  But she

smiled when she spoke, consciously（有意识地） deepening her dimple（酒窝） and fluttering her bristly black lashes as swiftly（迅速的，敏捷的） as butterflies' wings.  The boys were enchanted（施魔法，使迷惑）, as she had intended them to be, and they hastened to apologize for boring her.  They thought none the less of her for her lack of interest.  Indeed, they thought more.  War was men's business, not ladies', and they took her attitude as evidence of her femininity（柔弱，温柔）.

 

Having maneuvered（机动、驱动） them away from the boring subject of war, she went back with interest to their immediate situation.

 

"What did your mother say about you two being expelled again?"

 

The boys looked uncomfortable, recalling their mother's conduct

three months ago when they had come home, by request, from the

University of Virginia.

 

"Well," said Stuart, "she hasn't had a chance to say anything yet.

Tom and us left home early this morning before she got up, and

Tom's laying out over at the Fontaines' while we came over here."

 

"Didn't she say anything when you got home last night?"

 

"We were in luck last night.  Just before we got home that new

stallion Ma got in Kentucky last month was brought in, and the

place was in a stew.  The big brute--he's a grand horse, Scarlett;

you must tell your pa to come over and see him right away--he'd

already bitten a hunk out of his groom on the way down here and

he'd trampled two of Ma's darkies who met the train at Jonesboro.

And just before we got home, he'd about kicked the stable down and

half-killed Strawberry, Ma's old stallion.  When we got home, Ma

was out in the stable with a sackful of sugar smoothing him down

and doing it mighty well, too.  The darkies were hanging from the

rafters, popeyed, they were so scared, but Ma was talking to the

horse like he was folks and he was eating out of her hand.  There

ain't nobody like Ma with a horse.  And when she saw us she said:

'In Heaven's name, what are you four doing home again?  You're

worse than the plagues（瘟疫） of Egypt!'  And then the horse began

snorting and rearing（rear:用后腿站起） and she said:  'Get out of here!  Can't you see he's nervous, the big darling?  I'll tend to you four in the morning!'  So we went to bed, and this morning we got away before she could catch us and left Boyd to handle her."

 

"Do you suppose she'll hit Boyd?"  Scarlett, like the rest of the

County, could never get used to the way small Mrs. Tarleton bullied（bully:威吓） her grown sons and laid her riding crop on their backs if the occasion seemed to warrant it.

 

Beatrice Tarleton was a busy woman, having on her hands not only a

large cotton plantation, a hundred negroes and eight children, but

the largest horse-breeding farm in the state as well.  She was

hot-tempered and easily plagued(使苦恼） by the frequent scrapes（摩擦） of her four sons, and while no one was permitted to whip a horse or a slave, she felt that a lick now and then didn't do the boys any harm.

 

"Of course she won't hit Boyd.  She never did beat Boyd much

because he's the oldest and besides he's the runt（矮子） of the litter,"

said Stuart, proud of his six feet two.  "That's why we left him

at home to explain things to her.  God'lmighty, Ma ought to stop

licking us!  We're nineteen and Tom's twenty-one, and she acts

like we're six years old."

 

"Will your mother ride the new horse to the Wilkes barbecue

tomorrow?"

 

"She wants to, but Pa says he's too dangerous.  And, anyway, the

girls won't let her.  They said they were going to have her go to

one party at least like a lady, riding in the carriage."

 

"I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," said Scarlett.  "It's rained

nearly every day for a week.  There's nothing worse than a

barbecue turned into an indoor picnic."

 

"Oh, it'll be clear tomorrow and hot as June," said Stuart.

"Look at that sunset.  I never saw one redder.  You can always

tell weather by sunsets."

 

They looked out across the endless acres of Gerald O'Hara's newly

plowed cotton fields toward the red horizon.  Now that the sun was

setting in a welter（翻滚，滚动） of crimson（深红色的） behind the hills across the Flint

River, the warmth of the April day was ebbing（退潮、衰落） into a faint but balmy（温和的） chill.

 

Spring had come early that year, with warm quick rains and sudden

frothing（起泡沫的） of pink peach blossoms and dogwood dappling with white stars the dark river swamp（淹没、覆没） and far-off hills.  Already the plowing was nearly finished, and the bloody glory of the sunset colored the fresh-cut furrows（犁沟） of red Georgia clay to even redder hues（色调，样子，颜色，色彩）.

The moist（潮湿的） hungry earth, waiting upturned for the cotton seeds, showed pinkish on the sandy tops of furrows, vermilion（朱红色） and scarlet and maroon（栗色） where shadows lay along the sides of the trenches.  The whitewashed brick plantation house seemed an island set in a wild red sea, a sea of spiraling（螺旋，盘旋）, curving, crescent（新月，月牙） billows petrified（石化、吓呆）

suddenly at the moment when the pink-tipped waves were breaking

into surf（海浪，拍岸浪）.  For here were no long, straight furrows, such as could be seen in the yellow clay fields of the flat middle Georgia country or in the lush（味美的，豪华的，繁荣的） black earth of the coastal plantations.

The rolling foothill country of north Georgia was plowed in a

million curves to keep the rich earth from washing down into the

river bottoms.

It was a savagely red land, blood-colored after rains, brick dust

in droughts, the best cotton land in the world.  It was a pleasant

land of white houses, peaceful plowed fields and sluggish（行动迟缓的） yellow rivers, but a land of contrasts, of brightest sun glare and densest（dense:密集的，浓厚的） shade.  The plantation clearings(空旷地） and miles of cotton fields smiled up to a warm sun, placid（平静的）, complacent（自满的，自足的）.  At their edges rose the virgin forests, dark and cool even in the hottest noons, mysterious, a little sinister（险恶的）, the soughing pines seeming to wait with an age-old patience, to threaten with soft sighs:

"Be careful!  Be careful!  We had you once.  We can take you back

again."

 

To the ears of the three on the porch came the sounds of hooves（hoof:踢）,the jingling（jingle：叮当声） of harness（马具） chains and the shrill（尖叫得） careless laughter of negro voices, as the field hands and mules came in from the fields.  From within the house floated the soft voice of Scarlett's mother, Ellen O'Hara, as she called to the little black girl who carried her basket of keys.  The high-pitched, childish voice answered "Yas'm," and there were sounds of footsteps going

out the back way toward the smokehouse where Ellen would ration（配给，分发）out the food to the home-coming hands.  There was the click（嘀嗒声） of china and the rattle of silver as Pork, the valet-butler of Tara, laid the table for supper.

 

At these last sounds, the twins realized it was time they were

starting home.  But they were loath（不情愿的） to face their mother and they lingered on the porch of Tara, momentarily expecting Scarlett to give them an invitation to supper.