On a snowy afternoon, Jo decided to go out and dig paths in the snow for Beth to walk in when the sun came out. The garden separates The Marches’ house which is an old and brown looking rather exposed and damaged that has lost its summer charm from Mr. Laurance’s luxurious mansion that yet seemed a lonely, lifeless sort of house with an old gentleman, his grandson and lots of servants as no children would be seen playing in their lawn nor any glimpse of warm smiling faces.

Jo had long wanted to be friends with the Laurance boy only if she knew how to. For a long time, Jo had not seen Laurie and thought he must have gone away, when one day she spotted a brown face at an upper window, looking down into their garden, where Beth and Amy were snow-balling one another.

 Jo felt pity for the young boy and decides to throw a snowball on his window to grab his attention. Laurie admitted that he’s been sick with a cold, and he invited Jo to come over. While Jo went back to her house to inform her mother, Laurie on the other hand was super excited to have company for the first time and rushed to get ready and make his place tidy as Jo called him “a little gentleman “even when the place was spotless already.

 Jo arrives with an armful of offerings for Laurie that is love from her mother, blanc-mange (a type of custard) from Meg and Beth’s kittens as she thought they would be comforting. The kittens were just what he was missing which made him forget his shyness and became friends at once.

Jo uncovered Meg’s blanc-mange which was surrounded by green leaves and scarlet flowers from Amy’s pet geranium for Laurie to have while having tea which would help him recover his sore throat. Laurie liked Jo’s company and wanted to talk to her more about her sisters which amusingly he already knew their names as he would often peep through their window to see them enjoy with each other as he did not have a mother or siblings. 

Jo saw the loneliness and hunger for love and happiness in his eyes, she knew how rich she was in that matter and gladly shared it with Laurie and assured him that they would never draw the curtains and offered him to come over instead of peeping through his window as they will all make sure to keep him entertained with their company.

Laurie’s Grandpa would allow him to go over to their place only if Jo’s mother asked him to, he is a kind old man who lives among his books, remains unbothered by the outside world, and lets Laurie do pretty much everything he wants to but is scared to let Laurie be bothered by strangers. Mrs. Brooke who is Laurie’s tutor doesn’t stay at his house which leaves him with no option but to spend time by himself.

Jo feels bad for Laurie which makes him turn red but he is not offended by being accused of being shy as Jo had so much goodwill in her that he couldn’t get angry at her. Laurie changes the subject by asking if she liked her school and wanted to ask another but stopped as it wasn’t good manners to ask too many questions about people’s business.

Seeing Laurie’s decency, she didn’t mind laughing about her Aunt March so she gave him a lively description of the fussy old lady, her fat dog, the parrot that talked Spanish, and the library where she enjoyed. Laurie loved the conversation and laughed so hard that even the servants peeped to see what the matter was. 

Jo found that the love for books is one common interest that they both have and Laurie has read even more than her. He took her to his grandpa’s library which she admired and gave her a tour of the house. Jo pretended that she was not afraid of anything but deep down Laurie’s grandpa can be an exception as when he arrived, she admitted that she might be “a little bit afraid of him”. 

Laurie went away when Jo diverted herself in her way and when the door opened which she didn’t notice, without turning said decidedly “I’m sure now that I shouldn’t be afraid of him, for he’s got kind eyes, though his mouth is grim, and he looks as if he had a tremendous will of his own. He isn’t as handsome as my grandfather, but I like him.” Turns out that it was Laurie’s grandpa standing behind her. Jo’s heart began to beat uncomfortably fast yet she managed to please the old gentleman with her conversation.