Gone with the Wind / Унесённые ветром

The Wilkeses, the Calverts, the Tarletons, the Fontaines, all smiled when the small figure on the big white horse galloped up their driveways. Gerald was likable, and soon the neighbors learned what the children, negroes and dogs discovered at first sight, that a kind heart, a ready and sympathetic ear and an open pocketbook were behind his loud voice and his rude manner.

When Gerald was forty-three, it came to him that Tara, dear though it was, and the County folk, with their open hearts and open houses, were not enough.

He wanted a wife.

Tara cried out for a mistress.

The urgent need of a wife became clear to him one morning when he was dressing to ride to town for Court Day. Pork brought forth his favorite ruffled shirt, badly mended by the chambermaid.

“Mist’ Gerald,” said Pork, as Gerald fumed, “whut you needs is a wife.”

Gerald knew that Pork was right. He wanted a wife and he wanted children and, if he did not acquire them soon, it would be too late. But he was not going to marry just anyone.

His wife must be a lady of blood, with as many airs and graces[15 - с хорошими манерами] as Mrs. Wilkes and the ability to manage Tara as well as Mrs. Wilkes.

But there were two difficulties in the way of marriage into the County families. The first was the scarcity of girls of marriageable age. The second, and more serious one, was that Gerald was a “new man” and a foreigner. No one knew anything about his family.

Gerald knew that despite the genuine liking of the County men with whom he hunted, drank and talked politics there was hardly one whose daughter he could marry.

“Pack up. We’re going to Savannah,” he told Pork.

James and Andrew, Gerald’s brothers, who now lived in Savannah, had left Ireland long before. They might have some advice to offer on this subject of marriage, and there might be daughters among their old friends who would both meet his requirements and find him acceptable as a husband. James and Andrew listened to his story patiently but they gave him little encouragement.

They had no Savannah relatives to whom they might look for assistance, for they had been married when they came to America. And the daughters of their old friends had long since married and were raising small children of their own.

“You’re not a rich man and you haven’t a great family,” said James.

“I’ve made me money and I can make a great family. And I won’t be marrying just anyone.