But grandma's heart seemed to grow young again. She knew what would please
her little favorite, and she spared no expense if pleasure and happiness
were procured with the purchases, and thus passed away the pleasant winter,
bringing only that which seemed good into the storehouse of Louie's life
and heart.
Louie was destined to see but little of her own family hereafter, for
during the following summer the grandmother's health became feeble, and she
would not listen to the suggestions that Louie should return home. A few
months later Dinah had the melancholy satisfaction of hearing the last
words of her dying mistress, who passed away in her arms.
Louie was willing to listen to the entreaties of her grief-stricken
grandfather, to remain his little companion a while longer.
The charge of the farmhouse now fell into the hands of Mr. Sherwood's
widowed daughter. She had possessed a fine estate in Georgia, and had lived
a life of ease until Sherman's march to the sea, when her plantation was
devastated, and her well-kept slaves had joined in the destruction of her
property. When her husband's body was brought home for burial, the result
of a distressing accident, there seemed nothing else left to do but to
return to the home of her childhood, reaching it in time to hear her
mother's last request with respect to Louie's future.
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