wenxingh

@@@@@That's what they've been doing to me, she thought grimlyI don't have to put up with Charleston much longerAfter the turn onto Meeting Street the carriage moved into place at the end of a long line of carriages One by one they stopped to release passengers, then slowly moved on It'll be over before we get there at this rate, Scarlett thoughtShe looked out the window at people walking, the ladies followed by their maids carrying their slipper bagsI wish we'd walked, tooIt would be lovely to be out in the warm air instead of cooped up in this stuffy little spaceShe was startled by the sharp clanging of a streetcar bell to their leftHow can there be a streetcar running? she wonderedThey always stopped at nine o'clockShe heard the bells from StMichael's steeple ring two full rounds "Isn't it nice to see the streetcar with nobody on it but people dressed for a ball?" said Eleanor Butler"Did you know, Scarlett, that they always stop running the cars early on the night of the Saint Cecilia so they can scrub them out before they make the special runs to take people to the ball?" "I didn't know that, Miss EleanorHow do people get home?" "Oh, they run another special at two when the ball's over "What if somebody wants to ride who isn't going to the ball?" "They can't, of courseNobody would even think of itEverybody knows the cars don't run after nine o'clock"Mama, you sound like the duchess in Alice in Wonderland" Eleanor Butler began to laugh, too"I suppose I do," she sputtered cheerfully, then laughed even harderShe was still laughing when the carriage moved forward and stopped and the door was pulled openScarlett looked out onto a scene that made her catch her breathThis was the way a ball should oe be! Tall black iron poles held a pair of enormous lanterns brightly lit with a half dozen gas jetsThey illuminated the deep portico and towering white columns of a temple-like building set back from the street behind a tall iron fen