My Last Home
- One summer day, Beauty is cleaned and prepared very carefully, and Willie and his grandfather take him to a house just outside a nearby village. They pay a visit to three ladies, among them Miss Blomefield and Miss Ellen. Miss Ellen likes Beauty right away, immediately taking to his sweet expression, but the third lady says she would always be afraid of using a horse that had fallen once.
- The ladies agree to take Beauty on a trial basis, although they do complain about his broken-looking knees. When a groom from their house comes to pick Beauty up, Thoroughgood reminds him, "Handsome is as handsome does" (49.9). Translation? Don't judge a book by its cover.
- The next day at Beauty's potential new home, the groom notices Beauty's white star while cleaning his face, and says, "That is just like the star that Black Beauty had; he is much the same height, too. I wonder where he is now" (49.11). Wow… Who can this be?
- Next, the groom comes across the spot on Beauty's neck where he was bled during his long-ago illness at Birtwick—and recognizes it, too. He recognizes a few other markings, and exclaims with great joy, "Beauty! Beauty! Do you know me? little Joe Green that almost killed you?" (49.13). It is Joe Green, from Birtwick, and he's overjoyed at seeing Beauty again. We're a little weepy over here, too.
- Beauty never would have recognized grown-up Joe, but he's equally happy, and tries to let Joe know. Joe says he wishes John Manly were there to see Beauty. We do too, Joe, we do, too.
- Later that day, Miss Ellen takes Beauty out, and Joe tells her that he knows Beauty, who once belonged to Squire Gordon. Miss Ellen is very pleased with him, and says, "I shall certainly write to Mrs. Gordon and tell her that her favourite horse has come to us" (49.18).
- After they drive Beauty every day for a week, they decide to keep him, calling him Black Beauty once again.
- At last Beauty has found his forever home. Joe Green is his groom, and Beauty calls him "[…] the best and kindest" (49.20). He feels his strength returning, and Mr. Thoroughgood thinks Beauty will live a long time. Willie still comes to visit frequently, and the ladies have promised Beauty that he will never be sold. "My troubles are all over, and I am at home" (49.22), Beauty says. Sometimes, when he's waking up, he imagines he's back at Birtwick with his old friends.
- And so, although it didn't seem possible for a while there, Black Beauty lives happily ever after.