Southern Rose [Gone with the Wind]

Ellen O'Hara hurried through the door and asked as she took off her gloves: "How are John and Emile? Are they home? Where is Scarlett?"

"Mom!" Scarlett hurried down the stairs, panicking the black mother behind her.

"Slow down! My lady!"

Scarlett threw herself into Ellen's arms, "Mom, why did you come here! I miss you so much!"

"How are you, my child?" Ellen smiled and held up her daughter's little face, "Nurse takes good care of you, look, your little face is really radiant!"

Scarlett smiled reservedly and proudly, "Mom, come and see the new dress I made! It's so beautiful!" She didn't see the two younger sisters behind her mother at all.

"Look at how impatient you are!" Ellen patted her small face reproachfully, "You haven't seen Su Lun and Karin yet, they recovered from their illnesses and grew taller."

Scarlett felt a little disgusted in her heart, but still acted like a well-behaved daughter, and said kindly to the two sisters: "Are you all well? It's a pity you didn't come earlier. Mrs. Valenti really made me a whole wardrobe beautiful dress!"

Josephine came down the stairs slowly, and looked at Aunt Ellen and her three daughters with a smile: Scarlett was undoubtedly a healthy little beauty, with a rosy face, black hair on the temples, fresh red lips, and the most favored child. Most firstborns have this "special treatment"; Su Lun is still a child, not tall, has not yet begun to develop, and is not as beautiful as Scarlett, but can also be called "handsome"; Karin is smaller, probably 10 years old, recovering from a serious illness, thin and weak, with increasingly large eyes and pale skin.

Among the three girls, Scarlett probably looks like her father, Gerald, but she also inherited her mother's facial features very well; Karin is most like her mother, and Su Lun is between the sisters.

The young cousins ​​are carefree and only quarrel over pretty dresses.

"Aunt Ellen."

Ellen looked up at her with genuine joy on her face, "Come here, my dear Josephine, let me have a good look at you."

Josephine kissed Ellen's cheek lightly, "I haven't seen you for several years, how have you been these few years?"

"I'm fine, how about you? Show me your little Victor."

"Father and mother took him to the Mayvilles."

"How are your parents? When are they coming back?"

"They're fine. Sheldon, send a boy to the Mayvilles' and tell the mistress that Aunt Ellen is here and ask them to come home early."

The tall and strong black manservant on the side nodded and took orders.

"Tell me quickly, how have you been in France these past few years?" Ellen took Josephine's hand affectionately, and sat down on the sofa.

"It's fine, married and have kids." She avoided mentioning "becoming a widow."

Ellen was full of pity, "My poor Josephine!"

Josephine felt a little weird: Ellen was actually only 8 years older than her, so it can be said that her peers were fine.Lovely Lun's daughter is 14 years old!It's kind of scary!Early marriage and early childbearing are not acceptable.

"Maybe that's life. There's nothing to say. I just wanted to know how you got on at Tara. Dad says you don't come back once a year. If he wants to see you, he'll have to go to Clayton."

Ellen showed a weak smile, "There are so many things about Tara, it's hard for me to walk away."

Hey, it's all an excuse!She hates her family for forcing away her first love, Philip Robillard, so much so that he dies in a hasty bar brawl; she is so hopelessly lost that she decides to run away and marry an Irishman.To be honest, in the United States, the status of the Irish is only slightly higher than that of the black slaves. Countless people don't understand why the daughter of the Robillard family married an Irishman.

This is the grievance of the previous generation, after all, it is still a family, so when two children were sick, Ellen did not send the healthy child to the neighbor's house, but to the elder brother's house farther away.

Of course, John was very happy to welcome his niece to stay here for a few months. Emile also took good care of Scarlett, telling the black mother to follow Scarlett, because the young master grew up and the young lady was not at home. , there was nowhere to put her enthusiasm, so she took care of Scarlett with extra enthusiasm.

Scarlett took her sisters upstairs to her room, showing them her new dress proudly and proudly.Emile had almost no quota for her, and Scarlett made new dresses every week during her temporary stay for a few months.

At first, it was because Scarlett was growing taller. A 14-year-old girl was growing taller and her breasts were beginning to develop. How could the Miss Robillard wear underpants that were too short and a skirt that didn't fit?So several new sets were made from the inside to the outside.Then Josephine came back, and Mrs. Valenti made Scarlett half a dozen of the latest Parisian dresses, and half a dozen of the latest dance dresses.

"Mom said you can't go to the dance yet." Su Lun was so envious that she brought it up on purpose.

"That's not true! I asked my aunt, I'm already 14 years old, and I can go to the dance tonight!" Scarlett raised her face proudly, "And you, you have to wait until next Christmas!"

"So what if you can go to the ball? Everyone will only see our cousin Josephine, and no one will notice you, a little dwarf!" Su Lun liked to confront Scarlett tit for tat.The two sisters are similar in age, and as the child in the middle, she will always be ignored, and she is even more dissatisfied with her sister who is only 1 year older than her.

"Josephine is a widow, and she doesn't attract gentlemen."

Karin was stunned, "What did you say?"

"What's the matter? I'm not wrong, she is indeed a widow."

The Black Sister shook her head disapprovingly, "Miss Scarlett, I heard you say that it seems that Miss Josephine becoming a widow is something terrible and bad. This is not fair to our family. Miss Josephine How unfortunate!"

Scarlett murmured dissatisfied, "I see that if other women become widows, they can only wear black skirts and black veils on their faces. She doesn't look like a widow at all. Those wives said , she should not restore the Robillard name."

The black mother curled her lips, "Those ladies love to chew their tongues! The ladies in our family don't like to talk about other people's family. Miss Josephine is still young, she can wear whatever she wants, and she can wear whatever she likes. What. Let me tell you, the rules belong to other people, we are Robillards, and the Robillards have never been restrained."

The three young ladies of the O'Hara family were stunned by this high-handed principle: they had never heard such talk, and their mother had never taught them.