sey1205

@@@@@"Scarlett! Catch up, we're almost there Rosemary's call came from aheadScarlett flicked the neck of her horse with her crop and it walked marginally fasterRhett and Rosemary were already out of the wood when she reached themAt first all she could see was Rhett, sharp-edged clear in the bright sunlightHow handsome he is, and how well he sits his horse, not a sluggish old thing like mine, but a real horse with plenty of fire to himLook at the way the horse's muscles are twitching under hisskin, yet he's still as a statue, just from the grip of Rhett's knees and his hands on the reinsRosemary gestured, catching Scarlett's eye, directing it to the scene ahead, and Scarlett caught her breathShe had never cared about architecture, never noticed itEven the magnificent houses that made Charleston's Battery world-famous were to her just houses However there was something about the severe beauty of Julia Ashley's house at Ashley Barony that she recognized as different from anything she'd ever known and grand in a way she couldn't defineIt sat isolated in broad stretches of grass unadorned with garden, distant from the ancient huge live oak trees that were wide-spaced sentinels at the perimeter of the lawnSquare, made of brick with white-framed door and windows, the house was-"special," Scarlett whisperedNo wonder that it alone of all the plantations on the river had been spared the torches of Sherman's ArmyEven the Yankees wouldn't dare insult the mighty presence before her eyesThere was a sound of laughter, followed by singingScarlett turned her headThe house awed and intimidated herFar to her left she saw expanses of strong insistent green completely different from the familiar deep rich color of the grassDozens of black men and women were working and singing in the strange green Why, they're field hands, tending the crop of whatever it isSo many of them, tooHer mind flew to the cotton fields at Tara that had once stretched as far as she could see, just as this strident green flowed without bounds along the riverOh, yes, Rosemary's rightThis is a real plantation, like a plantation's meant to be