The following day she took little Louis out to see Philip. The two played beautifully together, but Mammy Cely looked at him askance. Her race is always on the lookout for "poor white trash." "No'm, he don't look lak Philip," she said. "He's got the favor of some chile I've seen, but it ain't Philip."
He went with her one day to see his mother. It brought quick tears to Margaret's eyes to witness the meeting. She came back full of pity for the sick girl.
"Aunt Mary, I don't believe she is as old as I am. So young to die! And she is so gentle and lady-like. She says she has no relatives at all to leave him to. Her husband died when Louis was a year old. And I think she said that neither her husband nor herself had brother or sister. Poor little tot! He is literally alone in the world. And the world so big!... Aunt Mary, I think I will have to do it."
She rather feared opposition from Judge Kirtley, but somewhat to her surprise he acquiesced in the proposed plan without remonstrance.
"Your money is your own and so is your life," he told her. "You are a woman now, accountable to nobody."
To Mrs. Pennybacker he said afterwards, "I am far from feeling sure about the outcome of it all. We are doing all we can, but these things are always uncertain. If it should go against her, it will be a good thing for her to have this child."
The next visit to the Home decided her. A lady from Chevy Chase had been there looking for a little boy. She had her eye on Louis Lesseur.
"I told her," reported the matron, "that we had given the refusal of him to another lady."
Margaret's brows came together in a quick frown. This seemed like bargaining for flesh and blood.
"If you could make your decision soon—"