Chapter 4 Summary

Dilcey arrives from Twelve Oaks, as she was the reason Gerald was visiting the Wilkes earlier that day. Pork, her husband, pleads with Gerald to purchase his wife, and so Gerald did - along with her daughter, Prissy. Dilcey offers Prissy to Scarlett as her personal maid.

Ellen returns home, exhausted. Though Ellen tells them she is not hungry, Mammy makes Ellen sit down to eat. Gerald starts in on Emmy Slattery's baby and the father, but Ellen interrupts before Gerald reveals the father's name. Ellen quietly eats as Gerald rants about the war.

After Ellen eats, the family sits down for prayers. Scarlett spends much of her prayer time thinking about Ashley and why he would want to marry the mousey Melanie Hamilton. A sudden realization comes over her that Ashley must not know that Scarlett loves him. Scarlett comes up with...