Chapter 21.
My Last Home.
One day during the summer, the groomer cleaned and dressed me with such special care that I thought I was going to be sold.
He trimmed my coat, ran a brush over my hooves, and even parted and combed my mane.
He went so far as polishing my harness before putting it on me.
Willie seemed excited as he squeezed into the carriage with his grandfather.
If the ladies like him, said the old gentleman, it will be perfect.
We were about a mile from the village when we came to a pretty house with a lawn and shrubbery at the front and a driveway going right up to the door.
Willie rang the doorbell and asked if Miss Blomfield or Miss Ellen was at home.
They were indeed.
Mr. Thorogood went inside while Willie waited outside with me.
In about ten minutes he returned, followed by three ladies.
A tall, pale lady wrapped in a white shawl leaned on a younger lady with dark eyes and a merry face.
The third lady was a very elegant woman named Miss Blomfield.
They all came and looked at me and asked questions.
The younger lady, Miss Ellen, really seemed to like me.
She said I had a wonderful face.
But the tall, pale lady said she would be nervous riding a carriage pulled by this horse'.
If he fell once, he may do it again, she objected.
But you see ladies, Mr Thorogood explained many excellent horses have had their knees broken because they had careless drivers.
It's not their fault at all.
That's what I see in this horse.
If you would like to try him out for a while, it would be fine.
Your coachman can give you his opinion.'
You have always been wise when it comes to horses, said the elegant lady, so your suggestion to try this horse matters a lot to me.
If my sister Lavinia doesn't mind, we will accept your offer and try him out.
The group decided I would be sent for the very next day.
In the morning, a smart-looking young man came for me.
At first he looked pleased, but when he saw my knees he said in a disappointed voice ''I'm surprised you would try to sell a horse with such bad knees''.
''You are only trying him out,'' Mr. Thorogood reminded him.
''If he is not as safe as any horse you have ever driven, then send him back.''
I was led to my new home, placed in a comfortable stable, fed and left to myself.
The next day, when my groomer was cleaning my face, he exclaimed That's just like the star Black Beauty had.
He is about the same height, too.
I wonder where he is now.
A little farther on, he came to the place on my neck where I had been bled and a little knot was left in the skin.
He stepped back and looked curiously at me.
He began feeling me all over and said to himself white star in the forehead, one white foot and this little knot in just that place.
He then looked at the middle of my back.
As sure as I'm alive, there's that little patch of white hair John used to call Beauty's three-penny bit.
It must be Beauty.
Do you know me, little Joe Green, who almost killed you?
And he began patting and patting me as if he was quite overjoyed.
I could not say that I remembered him, for now he was a fine, grown-up young man with black whiskers and a man's voice, but I was glad he remembered me and that he was Joe Green.
I put my nose up to him and tried to say that we were friends.
I never saw a man so pleased. give you a fair try, I should say so.
I wonder who was the nasty one who broke your knees, my old beauty.
You must have been treated horribly somewhere.
Well, you certainly will be treated fine here, old boy.
I only wish John Manley was here to see you.
In the afternoon I was harnessed onto a low carriage and brought to the lady's door.
Miss Ellen was going to try me and Mr. Green went with her.
Soon she seemed pleased with my trot.
I heard Joe telling her about me and how he was sure I was Squire Gordon's old black beauty.
When we returned, the other sisters came out to hear how I had behaved myself.
Miss Ellen told them what she had just heard.
She said I shall certainly write to Mrs Gordon and tell her that her favorite horse has come to us.
How pleased she will be.
After this I was driven every day for a week or so.
Since I appeared to be safe, Miss Lavinia at last went for a ride in a small carriage.
They decided to keep me and to call me by my old name of Black Beauty.
I have now lived in this happy place for a whole year.
Joe is the best and the kindest of groomers.
My work is easy and pleasant, and I feel my strength and spirits coming back.
Mr Thorogood remarked to Joe the other day in your place he will live to be twenty years old, maybe more.
Willie always speaks to me when he can and treats me as his special friend.
My ladies have promised me that I shall never be sold again, so I have nothing to fear.
And so my story ends.
My troubles are all over and I am finally home.
Sometimes, before I am fully awake, I imagine myself to be back in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple trees.
