Heidi, Johanna Spyri [reading e books .TXT] 📗

from Clara! Would you like to hear it?”

 

The grandfather was ready and pleased to do so, as also Peter,

who had followed Heidi into the shed. He leant his back against

the door post, as he felt he could follow Heidi’s reading better

if firmly supported from behind, and so stood prepared to

listen.

 

“Dearest Heidi,— Everything is packed and we shall start now in

two or three days, as soon as papa himself is ready to leave; he

is not coming with us as he has first to go to Paris. The doctor

comes every day, and as soon as he is inside the door, he cries,

‘Off now as quickly as you can, off to the mountain.’ He is most

impatient about our going. You cannot think how much he enjoyed

himself when he was with you! He has called nearly every day

this winter, and each time he has come in to my room and said he

must tell me about everything again. And then he sits down and

describes all he did with you and the grandfather, and talks of

the mountains and the flowers and of the great silence up there

far above all towns and the villages, and of the fresh delicious

air, and often adds, ‘No one can help getting well up there.’ He

himself is quite a different man since his visit, and looks

quite young again and happy, which he had not been for a long

time before. Oh, how I am looking forward to seeing everything

and to being with you on the mountain, and to making the

acquaintance of Peter and the goats.

 

“I shall have first to go through a six weeks’ cure at Ragatz;

this the doctor has ordered, and then we shall move up to

Dorfli, and every fine day I shall be carried up the mountain in

my chair and spend the day with you. Grandmamma is travelling

with me and will remain with me; she also is delighted at the

thought of paying you a visit. But just imagine, Fraulein

Rottenmeier refuses to come with us. Almost every day grandmamma

says to her, ‘Well, how about this Swiss journey, my worthy

Rottenmeier? Pray say if you really would like to come with us.’

But she always thanks grandmamma very politely and says she has

quite made up her mind. I think I know what has done it:

Sebastian gave such a frightful description of the mountain, of

how the rocks were so overhanging and dangerous that at any

minute you might fall into a crevasse, and how it was such steep

climbing that you feared at every step to go slipping to the

bottom, and that goats alone could make their way up without fear

of being killed. She shuddered when she heard him tell of all

this, and since then she has not been so enthusiastic about

Switzerland as she was before. Fear has also taken possession of

Tinette, and she also refuses to come. So grandmamma and I will

be alone; Sebastian will go with us as far as Ragatz and then

return here.

 

“I can hardly bear waiting till I see you again. Good-bye,

dearest Heidi; grandmamma sends you her best love and all good

wishes.—Your affectionate friend,

“Clara.”

 

Peter, as soon as the conclusion of the letter had been reached,

left his reclining position and rushed out, twirling his stick

in the air in such a reckless fashion that the frightened goats

fled down the mountain before him with higher and wider leaps

than usual. Peter followed at full speed, his stick still raised

in air in a menacing manner as if he was longing to vent his fury

on some invisible foe. This foe was indeed the prospect of the

arrival of the Frankfurt visitors, the thought of whom filled

him with exasperation.

 

Heidi was so full of joyful anticipation that she determined to

seize the first possible moment next day to go down and tell

grandmother who was coming, and also particularly who was not

coming. These details would be of great interest to her, for

grandmother knew well all the persons named from Heidi’s

description, and had entered with deep sympathy into all that

the child had told her of her life and surroundings in Frankfurt.

Heidi paid her visit in the early afternoon, for she could now go

alone again; the sun was bright in the heavens and the days were

growing longer, and it was delightful to go racing down the

mountain over the dry ground, with the brisk May wind blowing

from behind, and speeding Heidi on her way a little more quickly

than her legs alone would have carried her.

 

The grandmother was no longer confined to her bed. She was back

in her corner at her spinning-wheel, but there was an expression

on her face of mournful anxiety. Peter had come in the evening

before brimful of anger and had told about the large party who

were coming up from Frankfurt, and he did not know what other

things might happen after that; and the old woman had not slept

all night, pursued by the old thought of Heidi being taken from

her. Heidi ran in, and taking her little stool immediately sat

down by grandmother and began eagerly pouring out all her news,

growing more excited with her pleasure as she went on. But all

of a sudden she stopped short and said anxiously, “What is the

matter, grandmother, aren’t you a bit pleased with what I am

telling you?”

 

“Yes, yes, of course, child, since it gives you so much

pleasure,” she answered, trying to look more cheerful.

 

“But I can see all the same that something troubles you. Is it

because you think after all that Fraulein Rottenmeier may come?”

asked Heidi, beginning to feel anxious herself.

 

“No, no! it is nothing, child,” said the grandmother, wishing to

reassure her. “just give me your hand that I may feel sure you

are there. No doubt it would be the best thing for you, although

I feel I could scarcely survive it.”

 

“I do not want anything of the best if you could scarcely

survive it,” said Heidi, in such a determined tone of voice that

the grandmother’s fears increased as she felt sure the people

from Frankfurt were coming to take Heidi back with them, since

now she was well again they naturally wished to have her with

them once more. But she was anxious to hide her trouble from

Heidi if possible, as the latter was so sympathetic that she

might refuse perhaps to go away, and that would not be right. She

sought for help, but not for long, for she knew of only one.

 

“Heidi,” she said, “there is something that would comfort me and

calm my thoughts; read me the hymn beginning: ‘All things will

work for good.’”

 

Heidi found the place at once and read out in her clear young

voice:—

 

All things will work for good To those who trust in Me;

I come with healing on my wings, To save and set thee

free.

 

“Yes, yes, that is just what I wanted to hear,” said the

grandmother, and the deep expression of trouble passed from her

face. Heidi looked at her thoughtfully for a minute or two and

then said, “Healing means that which cures everything and makes

everybody well, doesn’t it, grandmother?”

 

“Yes, that is it,” replied the old woman with a nod of assent,

“and we may be sure everything will come to pass according to

God’s good purpose. Read the verse again, that we may remember

it well and not forget it again.”

 

And Heidi read the words over two or three times, for she also

found pleasure in this assurance of all things being arranged

for the best.

 

When the evening came, Heidi returned home up the mountain. The

stars came out overhead one by one, so bright and sparkling that

each seemed to send a fresh ray of joy into her heart; she was

obliged to pause continually to look up, and as the whole sky at

last grew spangled with them she spoke aloud, “Yes, I understand

now why we feel so happy, and are not afraid about anything,

because God knows what is good and beautiful for us.” And the

stars with their glistening eyes continued to nod to her till

she reached home, where she found her grandfather also standing

and looking up at them, for they had seldom been more glorious

than they were this night.

 

Not only were the nights of this month of May so clear and

bright, but the days as well; the sun rose every morning into

the cloudless sky, as undimmed in its splendor as when it sank

the evening before, and the grandfather would look out early and

exclaim with astonishment, “This is indeed a wonderful year of

sun; it will make all the shrubs and plants grow apace; you will

have to see, general, that your army does not get out of hand

from overfeeding.” And Peter would swing his stick with an air

of assurance and an expression on his face as much as to say,

“see to that.”

 

So May passed, everything growing greener and greener, and then

came the month of June, with a hotter sun and long light days,

that brought the flowers out all over the mountain, so that

every spot was bright with them and the air full of their sweet

scents. This month too was drawing to its close when one day

Heidi, having finished her domestic duties, ran out with the

intention of paying first a visit to the fir trees, and then

going up higher to see if the bush of rock roses was yet in

bloom, for its flowers were so lovely when standing open in the

sun. But just as she was turning the corner of the hut, she gave

such a loud cry that her grandfather came running out of the shed

to see what had happened.

 

“Grandfather, grandfather!” she cried, beside herself with

excitement. “Come here! look! look!”

 

The old man was by her side by this time and looked in the

direction of her outstretched hand.

 

A strange looking procession was making its way up the mountain;

in front were two men carrying a sedan chair, in which sat a

girl well wrapped up in shawls; then followed a horse, mounted by

a stately-looking lady who was looking about her with great

interest and talking to the guide who walked beside her; then a

reclining chair, which was being pushed up by another man, it

having evidently been thought safer to send the invalid to whom

it belonged up the steep path in a sedan chair. The procession

wound up with a porter, with such a bundle of cloaks, shawls,

and furs on his back that it rose well above his head.

 

“Here they come! here they come!” shouted Heidi, jumping with

joy. And sure enough it was the party from Frankfurt; the

figures came nearer and nearer, and at last they had actually

arrived. The men in front put down their burden, Heidi rushed

forward and the two children embraced each other with mutual

delight. Grandmamma having also reached the top, dismounted, and

gave Heidi an affectionate greeting, before turning to the

grandfather, who had meanwhile come up to welcome his guests.

There was no constraint about the meeting, for they both knew

each other perfectly well from hearsay and felt like old

acquaintances.

 

After the first words of greeting had been exchanged grandmamma

broke out into lively expressions of admiration. “What a

magnificent residence you have, Uncle! I could hardly have

believed it was so beautiful! A king might well envy you! And

how