@@@@@ Ashley Wilkes was still a handsome manHis
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Ashley Wilkes was still a handsome manHis thin aristocratic features
had become more distinguished with ageBut he looked older than
his earsHe can't be more than forty, Scarlett thought, and his
share's
more silver than goldHe must spend a lot more time in the
lumberyard
than he used to, he's got a nice color to hisskin, not that office gray
look he had beforeShe looked up with a smileIt was good to see
himEspecially looking so fit
Her obligation to Melanie didn't seem so burdensome now"How's
Aunt
Pitty? And India? And Beau? He must be practically a grown man!"
Pitty and India were just the same, said Ashley with a quirk of
his lipsPitty got the vapors at every passing shadow and India was
very busy with committee work to improve the moral tone of Atlanta
They spoiled him abominably, two spinsters trying to see which one
was
the best mother henThey tried to spoil Beau, too, but he'd have
none
of itAshley's gray eyes lit up with pride
Beau was a real little manHe'd be twelve soon, but you'd take him
for almost fifteenHe was president of a sort of club the
neighborhood boys had formedThey'd built a tree house in Pitty's
backyard, made from the best lumber the mill turned out, tooBeau
had
seen to that; he already knew more about the lumber business than
his father, said Ashley with a mixture of ruefulness and admiration
And, he added with intensified pride, the boy might have the makings
of
a scholarHe'd already won a school prize for Latin composition, and
he was reading books far above his age level- "But you must be bored
by
all this, ScarlettProud fathers can be very tedious "Not a bit,
Ashley," Scarlett liedBooks, books, books, that was exactly what was
wrong with the Wilkeses
They did all their living out of books, not li