It possibly could be.

"Promise me--" came the whisper, very softly now.

"Anything, darling."

"Captain Butler--be kind to him. He--loves you so."

"Rhett?" thought Scarlett, bewildered, and the words meant nothing

to her.

"Yes, indeed," she said automatically and, pressing a light kiss on

the hand, laid it back on the bed.

"Tell the ladies to come in immediately," whispered the doctor as

she passed through the door.

Through blurred eyes she saw India and Pitty follow the doctor into

the room, holding their skirts close to their sides to keep them

from rustling. The door closed behind them and the house was

still. Ashley was nowhere to be seen. Scarlett leaned her head

against the wall, like a naughty child in a corner, and rubbed her

aching throat.

Behind that door, Melanie was going and, with her, the strength

upon which she had relied unknowingly for so many years. Why, oh,

why, had she not realized before this how much she loved and needed

Melanie? But who would have thought of small plain Melanie as a

tower of strength? Melanie who was shy to tears before strangers,

timid about raising her voice in an opinion of her own, fearful of

the disapproval of old ladies, Melanie who lacked the courage to

say Boo to a goose? And yet--

Scarlett's mind went back through the years to the still, hot noon

at Tara when gray smoke curled above a blue-clad body and Melanie

stood at the top of the stairs with Charles' saber in her hand.

Scarlett remembered that she had thought at the time: "How silly!

Melly couldn't even heft that sword!" But now she knew that had

the necessity arisen, Melanie would have charged down those stairs

and killed the Yankee--or been killed herself.

Yes, Melanie had been there that day with a sword in her small

hand, ready to do battle for her. And now, as Scarlett looked

sadly back, she realized that Melanie had always been there beside

her with a sword in her hand, unobtrusive as her own shadow, loving

her, fighting for her with blind passionate loyalty, fighting

Yankees, fire, hunger, poverty, public opinion and even her beloved

blood kin.

Scarlett felt her courage and self-confidence ooze from her as she

realized that the sword which had flashed between her and the world

was sheathed forever.

"Melly is the only woman friend I ever had," she thought forlornly,

"the only woman except Mother who really loved me. She's like

Mother, too. Everyone who knew her has clung to her skirts."

Suddenly it was as if Ellen were lying behind that closed door,

leaving the world for a second time. Suddenly she was standing at

Tara again with the world about her ears, desolate with the

knowledge that she could not face life without the terrible

strength of the weak, the gentle, the tender hearted.

She stood in the hall, irresolute, frightened, and the glaring

light of the fire in the sitting room threw tall dim shadows on the

walls about her. The house was utterly still and the stillness

soaked into her like a fine chill rain. Ashley! Where was Ashley?

She went toward the sitting room seeking him like a cold animal

seeking the fire but he was not there. She must find him. She had

discovered Melanie's strength and her dependence on it only to lose