fraghood2009

@@@@@She wished that it could last forever, and she begged Miss Eleanor to tell about Cousin Townsend"Townsend's not really a cousin-cousin, you know, only a third cousin twice removed, but he is the direct descendent of Great-GreatGrandfather Ellinton, only son of an eldest son of an eldest sonSo he inherited that original land grant, and the Ellinton gambler's fever, and the Ellinton luckThey were always lucky, the EllintonsExcept for one thing: there's another Ellinton family trait, the boys are always cross-eyedTownsend married an extremely beautiful girl from a fine Philadelphia family-Philadelphia called it the wedding of beauty and the beast But the girl's father was a lawyer and a very sensible man about property, and Townsend was fabulously richTownsend and his wife settled in BaltimoreThen, of course, the War cameTownsend's wife went running home to her family the minute Townsend went off to join General Lee's armyShe was a Yankee, after all, and Townsend would more than likely get killedHe couldn't shoot a barn, much less a barn door, because of his cross eyesHowever, he still had the Ellinton luckHe never got anything worse than chilblains although he served all the way through to Appomattox Meanwhile, his wife's three brothers and her father were all killed, fighting in the Union ArmySo she inherited everything piled up by her careful father and his careful ancestors Townsend's living like a king in Philadelphia and doesn't care a fig that all his property in Savannah was confiscated by Sherman Did you see him, Rhett? How is he?" "More cross-eyed than ever, with two cross-eyed sons and a daughter that, thank God, takes after her mother Scarlett hardly heard Rhett's answer"Did you say the Ellintons were from Savannah, Miss Eleanor? My mother was from Savannah," she said eagerlyThe crisscross of relations that was so much a part of Southern life had long been a frustrating lack in her ownEveryone she knew had a network of cousins and uncles and aunts that covered generations and hundreds of milesPauline and Eulalie had no childrenGerald O'Hara's brothers in Savannah were childless, tooThere must be lots of O'Haras still in Ireland, but that did her no good, and all the Robillards except her grandfather were gone from Savanna