Heidi - Johanna Spyri (red scrolls of magic .txt) 📗
- Author: Johanna Spyri
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her, if she would be reasonable and make no further fuss, that he
would take her to Switzerland next summer. So Clara gave in to
the inevitable, only stipulating that the box might be brought
into her room to be packed, so that she might add whatever she
liked, and her father was only too pleased to let her provide a
nice outfit for the child. Meanwhile Dete had arrived and was
waiting in the hall, wondering what extraordinary event had come
to pass for her to be sent for at such an unusual hour. Herr
Sesemann informed her of the state Heidi was in, and that he
wished her that very day to take her home. Dete was greatly
disappointed, for she had not expected such a piece of news. She
remembered Uncle’s last words, that he never wished to set eyes
on her again, and it seemed to her that to take back the child to
him, after having left it with him once and then taken it away
again, was not a safe or wise thing for her to do. So she excused
herself to Herr Sesemann with her usual flow of words; to-day and
tomorrow it would be quite impossible for her to take the
journey, and there was so much to do that she doubted if she
could get off on any of the following days. Herr Sesemann
understood that she was unwilling to go at all, and so dismissed
her. Then he sent for Sebastian and told him to make ready to
start: he was to travel with the child as far as Basle that day,
and the next day take her home. He would give him a letter to
carry to the grandfather, which would explain everything, and he
himself could come back by return.
“But there is one thing in particular which I wish you to look
after,” said Herr Sesemann in conclusion, “and be sure you
attend to what I say. I know the people of this hotel in Basle,
the name of which I give you on this card. They will see to
providing rooms for the child and you. When there, go at once
into the child’s room and see that the windows are all firmly
fastened so that they cannot be easily opened. After the child is
in bed, lock the door of her room on the outside, for the child
walks in her sleep and might run into danger in a strange house
if she went wandering downstairs and tried to open the front
door; so you understand?”
“Oh! then that was it?” exclaimed Sebastian, for now a light was
thrown on the ghostly visitations.
“Yes, that was it! and you are a coward, and you may tell John
he is the same, and the whole household a pack of idiots.” And
with this Herr Sesemann went off to his study to write a letter
to Alm-Uncle. Sebastian remained standing, feeling rather
foolish.
“If only I had not let that fool of a John drag me back into the
room, and had gone after the little white figure, which I should
do certainly if I saw it now!” he kept on saying to himself; but
just now every corner of the room was clearly visible in the
daylight.
Meanwhile Heidi was standing expectantly dressed in her Sunday
frock waiting to see what would happen next, for Tinette had
only woke her up with a shake and put on her clothes without a
word of explanation. The little uneducated child was far too much
beneath her for Tinette to speak to.
Herr Sesemann went back to the dining-room with the letter;
breakfast was now ready, and he asked, “Where is the child?”
Heidi was fetched, and as she walked up to him to say “Good-morning,” he looked inquiringly into her face and said, “Well,
what do you say to this, little one?”
Heidi looked at him in perplexity.
“Why, you don’t know anything about it, I see,” laughed Herr
Sesemann. “You are going home today, going at once.”
“Home,” murmured Heidi in a low voice, turning pale; she was so
overcome that for a moment or two she could hardly breathe.
“Don’t you want to hear more about it?”
“Oh, yes, yes!” exclaimed Heidi, her face now rosy with delight.
“All right, then,” said Herr Sesemann as he sat down and made
her a sign to do the same, “but now make a good breakfast, and
then off you go in the carriage.”
But Heidi could not swallow a morsel though she tried to do what
she was told; she was in such a state of excitement that she
hardly knew if she was awake or dreaming, or if she would again
open her eyes to find herself in her nightgown at the front
door.
“Tell Sebastian to take plenty of provisions with him,” Herr
Sesemann called out to Fraulein Rottenmeier, who just then came
into the room; “the child can’t eat anything now, which is quite
natural. Now run up to Clara and stay with her till the carriage
comes round,” he added kindly, turning to Heidi.
Heidi had been longing for this, and ran quickly upstairs. An
immense trunk was standing open in the middle of the room.
“Come along, Heidi,” cried Clara, as she entered; “see all the
things I have had put in for you—aren’t you pleased?”
And she ran over a list of things, dresses and aprons and
handkerchiefs, and all kinds of working materials. “And look
here,” she added, as she triumphantly held up a basket. Heidi
peeped in and jumped for joy, for inside it were twelve
beautiful round white rolls, all for grandmother. In their
delight the children forgot that the time had come for them to
separate, and when some one called out, “The carriage is here,”
there was no time for grieving.
Heidi ran to her room to fetch her darling book; she knew no one
could have packed that, as it lay under her pillow, for Heidi
had kept it by her night and day. This was put in the basket with
the rolls. Then she opened her wardrobe to look for another
treasure, which perhaps no one would have thought of packing—and
she was right—the old red shawl had been left behind, Fraulein
Rottenmeier not considering it worth putting in with the other
things. Heidi wrapped it round something else which she laid on
the top of the basket, so that the red package was quite
conspicuous. Then she put on her pretty hat and left the room.
The children could not spend much time over their farewells, for
Herr Sesemann was waiting to put Heidi in the carriage. Fraulein
Rottenmeier was waiting at the top of the stairs to say good-bye
to her. When she caught sight of the strange little red bundle,
she took it out of the basket and threw it on the ground. “No,
no, Adelaide,” she exclaimed, “you cannot leave the house with
that thing. What can you possibly want with it!” And then she
said good-bye to the child. Heidi did not dare take up her
little bundle, but she gave the master of the house an imploring
look, as if her greatest treasure had been taken from her.
“No, no,” said Herr Sesemann in a very decided voice, “the child
shall take home with her whatever she likes, kittens and
tortoises, if it pleases her; we need not put ourselves out
about that, Fraulein Rottenmeier.”
Heidi quickly picked up her bundle, with a look of joy and
gratitude. As she stood by the carriage door, Herr Sesemann gave
her his hand and said he hoped she would remember him and Clara.
He wished her a happy journey, and Heidi thanked him for all his
kindness, and added, “And please say good-bye to the doctor for
me and give him many, many thanks.” For she had not forgotten
that he had said to her the night before, ‘It will be all right
tomorrow,’ and she rightly divined that he had helped to make
it so for her. Heidi was now lifted into the carriage, and then
the basket and the provisions were put in, and finally Sebastian
took his place. Then Herr Sesemann called out once more, “A
pleasant journey to you,” and the carriage rolled away.
Heidi was soon sitting in the railway carriage, holding her
basket tightly on her lap; she would not let it out of her hands
for a moment, for it contained the delicious rolls for
grandmother; so she must keep it carefully, and even peep inside
it from time to time to enjoy the sight of them. For many hours
she sat as still as a mouse; only now was she beginning to
realize that she was going home to the grandfather, the
mountain, the grandmother, and Peter, and pictures of all she was
going to see again rose one by one before her eyes; she thought
of how everything would look at home, but this brought other
thoughts to her mind, and all of a sudden she said anxiously,
“Sebastian, are you sure that grandmother on the mountain is not
dead?”
“No, no,” said Sebastian, wishing to soothe her, “we will hope
not; she is sure to be alive still.”
Then Heidi fell back on her own thoughts again. Now and then she
looked inside the basket, for the thing she looked forward to
most was laying all the rolls out on grandmother’s table. After
a long silence she spoke again, “If only we could know for
certain that grandmother is alive!”
“Yes, yes,” said Sebastian, half asleep; “she is sure to be
alive, there is no reason why she should be dead.”
After a while sleep fell on Heidi too, and after her disturbed
night and early rising she slept so soundly that she did not
wake till Sebastian shook her by the arm and called to her, “Wake
up, wake up! we shall have to get out directly; we are just in
Basle!”
There was a further railway journey of many hours the next day.
Heidi again sat with her basket on her knee, for she would not
have given it up to Sebastian on any consideration; to-day she
never even opened her mouth, for her excitement, which increased
with every mile of the journey, kept her speechless. All of a
sudden, before Heidi expected it, a voice called out,
“Mayenfeld.” She and Sebastian both jumped up, the latter also
taken by surprise. In another minute they were both standing on
the platform with Heidi’s trunk, and the train was steaming away
down the valley. Sebastian looked after it regretfully, for he
preferred the easier mode of travelling to a wearisome climb on
foot, especially as there was danger no doubt as well as fatigue
in a country like this, where, according to Sebastian’s idea,
everything and everybody were half savage. He therefore looked
cautiously to either side to see who was a likely person to ask
the safest way to Dorfli.
Just outside the station he saw a shabby-looking little cart and
horse which a broad-shouldered man was loading with heavy sacks
that had been brought by the train, so he went up to him and
asked which was the safest way to get to Dorfli.
“All the roads about here are safe,” was the curt reply.
So Sebastian altered his question and asked which was the best
way to avoid falling over the precipice, and also how a box
could be conveyed to Dorfli. The man looked at the box, weighing
it with his eye, and then volunteered if it was not too heavy to
take it on his own cart, as he was driving to Dorfli. After
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