Who was Laurie in Little Women?

Laurie is the March girls's neighbor. He is the "poor little rich boy" who lives with his wealthy and overprotective grandfather, Mr. Laurence. He lacks fun and companionship in his grandfather's big, empty house. He is being tutored at home by Mr. Brooke to prepare him for Harvard.
Laurie talks about watching the March sisters and mother from afar the first time Jo comes to visit. He reveals his loneliness:

"I can't help looking over at your house, you always seem to be having such good times . . . when the lamps are lighted, it's like looking at a picture to see the fire, and you all around the table with your mother . . . I haven't got any mother, you know." . . .
The solitary, hungry look in his eyes went straight to Jo's warm heart . . . Laurie was sick and lonely, and feeling how rich she was in home and happiness, she gladly tried to share it with him.

Mrs. March and the four girls embrace him as one of their own, making him almost a part of the family. They may be poor, but they offer him the joyous hi-jinks, friendship, and laughter that all his money can't buy.
Laurie is younger than Meg but older than Jo. He is dark-haired and darker-skinned, as his mother was Italian. He is high-spirited, and he falls in love with Jo, but when he tries to propose to her, she refuses to marry him. He ends up marrying Amy.