Chapters Nine through Seventeen Summary

In chapter nine, Scarlett drives out to the site of the new houses being built with Ashley's lumber and encounters Ashley there. Joe Colleton tells Ashley that Scarlett is visiting the area because she's considering building a store there. Scarlett reads a letter from a relative in Charleston who tells Scarlett about Rhett and his mother, Eleanor. Scarlett has begun drinking and is in terrible shape when she realizes that she has a problem and puts her energies into quitting the drinking. She comes to realize that she will have to go to Rhett.

Chapter ten is the first chapter of the second section, "High Stakes." She purchases new clothes and catches a train for Charleston. Scarlett arrives in Charleston with Pansy and finds a large number of Yankee soldiers there. No one meets her at the...