part 2
The cousins she'd been visiting in Richmond were hopeless dolts, she
declared, and she had hated every minute of the time there. She was
absolutely certain that not one of them had ever read a book-at least,
not one worth reading. "Oh, dear," said Eleanor Butler softly. She
looked at Rhett with mute entreaty.
"Cousins are always a trial, Rosemary," he said with a smile. "Let me
tell you the latest on Cousin Townsend Ellinton. I saw him in
Philadelphia recently, and the meeting left me with blurred vision for
a week. I kept trying to look him in the eye and of course I get
vertiginous."
"I'd rather be dizzy than bored to death!" his sister interrupted.
"Can you picture having to sit around after supper and listen to Cousin
Miranda read aloud from the Waverley novels? That sentimental
claptrap!"
"I always rather enjoyed Scott, dear, and so did you, I thought,"
Eleanor said soothingly. Rosemary was not soothed. "Mama, I didn't
know any better, that was years ago." Scarlett thought longingly of
the quiet after supper hours she had been sharing with Miss Eleanor.
Obviously there'd be no more of those with Rosemary in the house.
How
could Rhett possibly be so fond of her? Now she seemed bound and
determined to pick a fight with him. If I were a man, you'd let me
go," Rosemary was shouting at Rhett. "I've been reading the articles
about Rome that Mr. Henry James is writing, and I feel like I'll
perish of ignorance if I don't get to see it for myself."
"But you're not a man, my dear," Rhett said calmly. "Where on earth
did
you get copies of The Nation? You could be strung up for reading a
liberal rag like that." Scarlett's ears perked up and she broke into
the conversation. "Why don't you let Rosemary go, Rhett? Rome's
not so
far. And I'm sure we must know somebody who has kin there. It
can't
be any farther than Athens, and the Tarletons have about a million
cousins in Athens." Rosemary gaped at her. "Who are these Tarletons
and what does Athens have to do with Rome?" she said. Rhett
coughed to
mask his laughter. Then he cleared his throat. "Athens and Rome are
the
names of country towns in Georgia, Rosemary," he drawled.
"Would you like to pay them a visit?" Rosemary put her hands to her
head in a dramatic gesture of despair. "I cannot credit what I'm
hearing. Who would want to go to Georgia, for pity's sake? I want to
