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@@@@@"It's all right, my dearWhatever it is, it's all right nowYou've come home at lastI've been longing for you to come She put her arms around her daughter-in-law and held her closeleanor Butler was a Southern ladyHer slow, soft voice and indolent, graceful movements disguised a formidable energy and efficiencyLadies were trained from birth to be decorative, to be sympathetic and fascinated listeners, to be appealingly helpless and empty-headed and admiringThey were also trained to manage the intricate and demanding responsibilities of huge houses and large, often warring, staffs of servants-while always making it seem that the house, the garden, the kitchen, the servants ran themselves flawlessly while the lady of the house concentrated on matching colors of silk for her delicate embroideryWhen the deprivations of war reduced the staffs of thirty or forty to one or two, the demands on women increased exponentially, but the expectations remained the sameThe battered houses must continue to welcome guests, shelter families, sparkle with clean windows and shining brass, and have a well-groomed, imperturbable, ? accomplished mistress at leisure in the drawing roomSomehow the ladies of the South did itEleanor soothed Scarlett with gentle words and fragrant tea, flattered Pauline by asking her opinion of the desk recently installed in the drawing room, diverted Eulalie with a plea to taste the pound cake and judge if the extract of vanilla bean was strong enoughShe also murmured to Manigo, her manservant, that her maid Celie would help him and Scarlett's maid transfer Scarlett's things from her aunts' house to the big bedroom overlooking the garden where MrIn under ten minutes, everything had been accomplished to move Scarlett without opposition, or injured feelings, or interruption to the even rhythm of the tranquil life under Eleanor Butler's roofScarlett felt like a girl again, safe from all harm, sheltered by a mother's all-powerful loveShe gazed at Eleanor through misted, admiring eyesThis was what she wanted to be, had always meant to be, a lady like her mother, like Eleanor ButlerEllen O 'Hara had instructed her to be a lady, had planned for it and wanted itI can do it now, Scarlett told herselfI can make up for all the mistakes I madeI can make Mother proud of meWhen she was a child, Mammy had described heaven to her as a land of clouds like big feather mattresses where angels rested, amusing themselves by looking down at the goings-on below through cracks in the skyEver since her mother died, Scarlett had had an uncomfortable childish conviction that Ellen was watching her with unhappy concernI'll make it all better now, she promised her mot