For the picnic, Scarlett chose a spot on the hill where the road rose up from the Flint River to enter Tara proper. The ancient pine trees that grew in the bottom land provided shade, but did not entirely obscure the view of the river.

Cossette was pleased that Scarlett, having overcome her initial reluctance, was now so enthusiastic about the trip to Tara. Indeed the whole expedition might have been entirely her own idea, the way she had taken charge of everything.

"We'll put the table here. Will, move the wagon forward a little so it'll be easier to unload. Ashley, you and Rhett can start setting up the chairs. This is a good spot, overlooking the river. Yes, you can help, Wade. Cossette, be a dear and run back to the house and tell Melanie and Suellen we'll be back for the food in fifteen, no twenty, minutes."

Tara. She was actually at Tara. It wasn't the way she had always pictured it. The plantation culture of Clayton County was gone, the pine forests were slowly reclaiming the once neatly ordered cotton fields, and there was a shabby quality to the house that was almost physically painful to view. It was painful to Scarlett, too. Sometimes when she let down her guard, when she did not realize that her emotions were reflected in her face, Cossette could detect something of a haunted yearning for times long gone.

But Cossette was not ready to agree with Will Benteen's assessment that Tara was now a "two mule farm". There was still something there, something of the old days that had never surrendered to fate and circumstance.

Perhaps it was the brooding presence of the house, still intact, still crowning the landscape. Perhaps it was in the red dirt that even yet yielded of its bounty. Just a trickle perhaps, compared to the wealth that had been gleamed from the soil in the halcyon ante-bellum days, but still far from nothing. Perhaps it was the fact of Suellen, a link to the golden past, an O'Hara still in residence. Cossette couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something.

She quickly realized that she would never be friends with Suellen. Probably never could under any circumstances. And certainly not at the present time, arriving with so little advance notice, disrupting the customary Tara routine, arriving with Scarlett, as Scarlett's guest. Of course it had nothing to do with Cossette. Suellen's animosity toward Scarlett was so great that even a chance acquaintance with Scarlett was an unforgivable offense. She was barely civil even to Melanie. And the fact that Scarlett was at her most charming, so apologetic at their sudden intrusion, so willing to help in any way, only heightened her suspicions.

"A picnic, huh. Well, don't expect me to fix anything special."

And then she prepared fried chicken, mashed potatoes with a delicious brown gravy and buttered corn. With Melanie's help. Melanie produced two pies, blueberry and blackberry, obtained that morning from Mrs. Merriwether, and brought with them from Atlanta.

Cossette liked Will Benteen. To outward appearance he was just a simple farmer. Yet he possessed a quality of spirit profound in its peace and serenity. Those placid eyes missed nothing and he immediately detected in Cossette a deep love of Tara. He could never have explained why the visitor from afar should have such a love of this land she had never before seen, nor did he seek to know. He simply recognized and accepted the fact. More than once it occurred to Cossette that the old saying, "Still water runs deep!" might have been coined to describe Will.

The picnic was as pleasant as any Cossette had ever attended. Good food, good company, good conversation, all under as beautiful a blue sky as she had ever seen. Scarlett seemed delightfully happy as she arranged everything.

"Now Ashley, you sit with Melly, and Melly, don't you wear yourself out trying to do everything. You stay right there with Ashley and let him serve you.

"And Sue, you can sit here with Will. No, don't go to any trouble. I'll take care of it.

"Rhett darling, we'll sit here, next to Melly and Ashley. And yes, Bonnie, I know you want to sit with Cossette. You don't mind, do you Cossette? You're sweet."

Bonnie was her usual delightful self. All the children were full of excitement at the unaccustomed novelty of the occasion. Even Wade was showing a lively and carefree side that Cossette had not seen before.

"I hope you don't mind my asking, Cossette," Rhett asked, "But I was wondering if you'd like to tell us a little about your life in Canada. In the Toronto area, I believe."

"Yes," Scarlett agreed with a smile as she clasped Rhett's hand, "We'd love to hear all about it."

"Well," Cossette replied, "There's really not much to say. I attend the local school. And I work at the museum three or four days a week. As a volunteer. I love to sing and write poetry and stories. Last year I was in a musical. And I'm helping plan a family reunion. I guess that's all."

"A musical!" Scarlett exclaimed with delight, and she patted Rhett's hand. "Ashley, cut another slice of pie for Melly. Oh, you've had enough. It's such good pie. Why I don't know when I've ever had better."

"Sing a song, Cossy," Bonnie said.

"Oh I couldn't, sweetheart," Cossette replied.

"Dear, don't bother Cossette," Scarlett said.

"I wanna hear Cossy sing," Bonnie demanded.

"Well, maybe just one," Cossette said. "If you don't mind," she added, looking at the others.

"Oh no! Not at all! We'd love to have you sing!"

"Well then, here's one I think you'll like. It's a favorite of mine."

Cossette lifted her head and sang in a sweet soprano.

The others listened with rapt attention, clearly impressed. The children left off their playful activities and listened in fascination. Cossette was rewarded with applause when she finished.

"That was very, very good," Melanie complimented her. "I wish we had you in the Saturday Night Musical Circle."

"Wasn't that just wonderful, Bonnie," Rhett said. "Thank Cossette and tell her how much you enjoyed it."

"Sing Bonnie Blue Flag," Bonnie cried. "Sing Bonnie Blue Flag!"

"Oh darling, I don't think we should," Melanie responded.

"I wanna sing Bonnie Blue Flag," Bonnie pouted.

The adults looked around at each other, not wanting to refuse the precocious child, but reluctant to proceed.

"I guess I could start it off," Cossette said.

"You know it?" Scarlett asked.

"Yes. I. . . Oh, I can't explain how I happened to learn it, but I did. Let me begin."

"We are a band of brothers and native to the soil,

Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil. . ."

She sang cautiously for it wasn't really her song and she was uncomfortable with it. And when the others joined in they did so with a melancholy lack of enthusiasm. It was simply too personal, too close to painful memories best left undisturbed. But Bonnie cried with delight and for her sake they attacked the chorus with gusto and sang it three times over.

"Hurrah! Hurrah!

For Southern rights, hurrah!

Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag

That bears a single star."

"That was good. It's really a lovely melody," Cossette said when they finished.

Ashley's face bore a wintry smile.

"Twelve Oaks was over there," he explained. "On that hill. You could see the chimneys from here."

"Oh, I didn't think about that," Scarlett spoke ruefully. "I shouldn't have picked this spot for the picnic."

"No, I'm the one at fault. I shouldn't have mentioned it," Ashley replied gallantly. "It's a lovely spot."

There was a strained silence, and Cossette was seized with a sudden fear that their pleasant excursion was about to be submerged in the bitter recollections of the past. But Rhett quickly intervened.

"Ashley. I've been wanting to ask your advice about something. We handle many loan requests at the bank. Especially with all the new construction.

"Of course, we want to promote the recovery and growth of Atlanta. So we want to be able to approve as many loans as possible. But no one at the bank has any real expertise in construction. Or knowledge about such things as building material quality. It's a hindrance when we try to evaluate loan requests.

"I thought that since you operate a lumber mill I might pay a visit sometime and learn a little about your operation. Perhaps when we return to Atlanta. If it wouldn't be inconvenient."

He threw a look at Melanie and she picked up the cue.

"Why Captain Butler, I know Ashley would be delighted to help in any way. Wouldn't you, dear?"

And together they steered the conversation away from grim thoughts of the past.

As Melanie prepared for bed she looked back on the day with satisfaction. They had all had a wonderful time at Tara. The picnic was lovely, Cossette was a delightful guest, and Scarlett had never seemed happier.

Melanie did not ask much of life. She found her joy in other people's happiness, and it had thus been a bountiful day for her. It was good for Ashley and Beau to get away from Atlanta for a couple of days and spend some time in the country. Aside from that one unfortunate incident when Ashley mentioned Twelve Oaks it had been a perfect day. Captain Butler was such a thoughtful man to divert Ashley's attention to other matters. To ask for his advice. But then Captain Butler was always so kind and helpful.

Tomorrow they would take the train back to Atlanta. Cossette's birthday was the following day and there was much to do. She had promised Captain Butler to help with the guest list. To invite all the nice people of Atlanta and encourage them to attend. She had already discussed the matter with Mrs. Merriwether, when she bought the pies, but she knew it would take more persuading to arrange a respectable turnout for any party at the Butler house.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Cossette could come with them and help plant flowers on the graves of the glorious dead. That would certainly endear her to the other ladies. Perhaps she could help, but then again, Cossette was a guest in Atlanta and Melanie hated the thought of imposing. And she wrinkled her brow as she pondered the matter.

But still, they were having a wonderful time at Tara, and as Melanie prepared for bed she looked back on the day with satisfaction.

As Cossette prepared for bed she looked back on the day with satisfaction. It was more than she had ever dreamed possible. To visit Atlanta. To meet Scarlett and Rhett and stay with them in their very house. To actually be with Melanie and Bonnie, and Ashley too.

And Tara. She had spent the day at Tara. She had had a picnic at Tara, and on an absolutely perfect day. She was sorry that Ashley was still lost in mourning for the past, but she didn't know of anything she could do for him. But Scarlett had certainly enjoyed herself, had so delighted in being squired around by Rhett, and Cossette was very happy for her.

And now she was spending the night in Scarlett's bedroom. No, it wasn't like it must have been in the old days. So sparsely and plainly furnished now, with none of the frills and trinkets that must have adorned the room in those heady days of Scarlett's privileged girlhood.

But the bed remained. Scarlett's bed. She ran her fingers over the wooden bedpost. This was the very bedpost that Scarlett had grasped and braced herself with, on the day of the barbecue at Twelve Oaks, while Mammy tugged on the laces of her stays.

She embraced the bedpost, stroking her cheek against the smooth wood, and wished the moment could last forever. And as Cossette prepared for bed she looked back on the day with satisfaction.

As Scarlett prepared for bed she looked back on the day with satisfaction. So far her plans had worked to perfection. By taking charge of everything, by making all the arrangements, she had kept Ashley by Melanie's side, Rhett by her own side, and Cossette occupied with Bonnie and the other children.

It was almost too easy and Scarlett was surprised that Cossette had not put up more of a fight. But then Tara was just a skirmish. The real danger was in Atlanta. That birthday party. Cossette would be the guest of honor. How then to keep her away from Rhett and Ashley at her own birthday party?

But Scarlett had an idea, and she smiled as she planned her strategy. On the night of her party Cossette must be the most popular young lady in Atlanta. Scarlett would see to that.

First she must be kept occupied during the day. How fortunate that Melanie and the ladies of the Association would spend the day beautifying the graves of the glorious dead. So if arrangements could be made for Cossette to join them, she would be free to call on the gentlemen of Atlanta and remind them of their duty toward the young visitor from Canada.

Oh, Cossette was going to be popular, all right. While she was up to her elbows in weeds, Scarlett would fill her dance card with every man in Atlanta from Grandpa Merriwether to little Frank Bonnell. Except Ashley and Rhett. And while Scarlett kept them occupied all evening, with Melanie's unwitting assistance, Cossette would be so busy dancing that she wouldn't even have time to notice if they were there.

But she was surprised that Cossette had not put up more of a fight at Tara. Still as Scarlett prepared for bed she looked back on the day with satisfaction. And she smiled grimly as she prepared for the Second Battle of Atlanta.