Chapter 43 Summary

Rhett returns to Atlanta after being away for months. Rhett confronts Scarlett on the fact that she has hired Ashley to work in one of her mills, when he had said the one thing she could not do was use the money he lent her for the mills to assist Ashley Wilkes. Since she backed out of her word, he tells her that he will never lend her another penny, even though she has already repaid him, with interest. This news disappoints Scarlett, as she was going to ask him to borrow money for an additional sawmill.

Scarlett tells him that he is jealous, which prompts an argument between the two of them about Ashley. Rhett tells her that Ashley has got to be more defeated that the other Southern gentleman, because he is aware that he is being winnowed out. Rhett asks...