Now the Captain, Little Wolf, Miss Marsden, and little Flora, have become almost inseparable. A permanent parting is not once spoken of between them. Their last day at sea is spent in planning to be together for the summer.
It has transpired that Little Wolf's protege, Fanny Green, is a niece of the Captain's. His elder brother, Fanny's father, having formed bad habits, ran away from home, and it was supposed, went to sea, and had not been heard of by his family up to the time of the Captain's acquaintance with Little Wolf.
In the course of a few weeks, the Captain and Flora, are to accompany Little Wolf and Miss Marsden to Minnesota, where they expect to greet their newly discovered little relative.
A few weeks later, and everything was in company order at Squire Tinknor's, and Fanny Green's demure little face looked out of the window, almost the entire day that Little Wolf and her friends were to arrive, and when, just at twilight, a carriage brought them to the gate, she shrank away in the folds of the curtain, and Little Wolf found her there sobbing for joy.
Her cousin Flora greeted her with the remark, "Why, dear me, how wery, wery large you are, cousin Fanny; I thought you would be smaller than me."
Little Wolf found letters awaiting her from the Hanfords, and Antoinette Le Clare, urging her to come with her friends and spend a few weeks at Fairy Knoll.
It was decided that they should accept the invitation, and accordingly, on a warm summer morning, a requisition was made on Squire Tinknor's horses and carriage, and Tom was installed as driver.
Fanny and Flora were to be left with Mrs. Tinknor, and, as Tom tenderly kissed the former, his charge to her was, "Take care of yourself, Fanny dear, for you know you have promised to be my little wife," and Flora said that was "wery, wery nice."
The Captain occupied a seat beside Miss Marsden, and Little Wolf sat by Tom, whom, having ceased to be a lover, she found to be quite entertaining, and they amused themselves by building air castles and earth castles, such as baloons and orphan asylums; and indeed, by the time Fairy Knoll loomed up before them in the moonlight, they had become warmer friends than they had ever been.
As they neared the cottage, Little Wolf could not repress a sigh, for too well did she remember her emotions on that wintry morning, when she and Edward Sherman left that spot together, so light of heart, so full of hope and joy.