enist1969

@@@@@ What if she lost? The panic always bred angerShe focused it on young Tommy CooperThe boy was always hanging around Rhett with hero-worship clear on his faceAnd Rhett responded, tooTommy had been given a small sailboat for Christmas, and Rhett was teaching him to sailThere was a handsome brass telescope in the card room on the second floor, and Scarlett ran to it whenever she could on the afternoons that Rhett was out with Tommy Cooper Her jealousy was like probing an aching tooth with her tongue, but she couldn't resist the compulsion to cause herself painIt's not fair! They're laughing and having fun and skimming the water as free as a birdWhy not take me sailing? I loved it so that time we came back from the Landing, I'd love it even more in that tiny boat the Cooper boy hasWhy, it's alive, it moves so quickly, so lightly, so so happily! Fortunately, there were few afternoons that she was at home and near the spy glassAlthough the evening receptions and balls were the main events of the Season, there were also other things to be done The dedicated whist players continued to gamble, Miss Eleanor's Confederate Home committee had meetings about fund raising to buy books for the school and to repair a leak that suddenly appeared in the roof, there were still calls to pay and to receiveScarlett became hollow-eyed and pale from fatigue It would all have been worth it if Rhett was the one feeling jealous and not herBut he seemed to be unaware of the admiration she was provokingOr worse, uninterestedShe had to make him notice, make him care! She decided to choose one man from her dozens of admirersSomeone he'd have to feel jealous ofHeavens, she looked like a ghost! She put on rouge, and heavy perfume, and her most innocent expression for the hunt* * * Middleton Courtney was tall and fair, with sleepy-lidded pale eyes and extremely white teeth that he flashed in a wicked-looking smile He was the epitome of what Scarlett considered a sophisticated man about townBest of all, he, too, had a phosphate mine and it was twenty times the size of Rhett's When he bowed over her hand in greeting, Scarlett closed her fingers over hisHe looked up from his bow and smil