How It All Goes Down
- Scarlett works at getting her mills to pay, and determines to have nothing to do with fighting the Yankees or annoying the Yankees.
- She is happy Frank is not in the KKK.
- She's good at lying to her customers and cheating them out of as much money as possible, though she has trouble getting good men to run her mills. She's desperately trying to get everything in order before she has her baby and has to give up direct supervision for a while.
- Atlanta is horrified that Scarlett is such a sharp trader, and that she's willing to deal with the Yankees.
- Thing is, though, being friendly with the Yankees makes her a lot of money.
- There's a scene to show how awful the Yankees are; a couple Yankee women talk about how they don't want black people as servants because they're not trustworthy, and one of them also calls Uncle Peter a toad.
- Scarlett gets really mad and tells them that Peter is one of their family.
- The moral of this story is that Northerners are racist, but murdering black men in cold blood is just what has to be done to save the South.
- Peter tells Scarlett she shouldn't do business with Yankees.
- Scarlett imagines how she'll eventually be a great lady with as much money as she needs and everyone will love her for being unselfish and wonderful.
- Rhett is hanging around and often chats with Scarlett about the mill and its doings, which she enjoys.
- At one point he reveals he's been staying with her to protect her because he knows she's having a baby. Southern women are supposed to stay indoors out of public sight if they are showing at all, apparently.
- Scarlett's starting to drink; it helps with her stress.
- And finally Will writes to tell her Gerald is dead.