Heidi (19 page)

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 some
little interchange of words it was finally agreed that the man
should take both the child and the box to Dorfli, and there find
some one who could be sent on with Heidi up the mountain.

"I can go by myself, I know the way well from Dorfli," put in
Heidi, who had been listening attentively to the conversation.
Sebastian was greatly relieved at not having to do any mountain
climbing. He drew Heidi aside and gave her a thick rolled
parcel, and a letter for her grandfather; the parcel, he told
her, was a present from Herr Sesemann, and she must put it at the
bottom of her basket under the rolls and be very careful not to
lose it, as Herr Sesemann would be very vexed if she did, and
never be the same to her again; so little miss was to think well
of what he said.

"I shall be sure not to lose it," said Heidi confidently, and
she at once put the roll and the letter at the bottom of her
basket. The trunk meanwhile had been hoisted into the cart, and
now Sebastian lifted Heidi and her basket on to the high seat and
shook hands with her; he then made signs to her to keep her eye
on the basket, for the driver was standing near and Sebastian
thought it better to be careful, especially as he knew that he
ought himself to have seen the child safely to her journey's
end. The driver now swung himself up beside Heidi, and the cart
rolled away in the direction of the mountains, while Sebastian,
glad of having no tiring and dangerous journey on foot before
him, sat down in the station and awaited the return train.

The driver of the car was the miller at Dorfli and was taking
home his sacks of flour. He had never seen Heidi, but like
everybody in Dorfli knew all about her. He had known her
parents, and felt sure at once that this was the child of whom he
had heard so much. He began to wonder why she had come back, and
as they drove along he entered into conversation with her. "You
are the child who lived with your grandfather, Alm-Uncle, are you
not?"

"Yes."

"Didn't they treat you well down there that you have come back
so soon?"

"Yes, it was not that; everything in Frankfurt is as nice as it
could be."

"Then why are you running home again?"

"Only because Herr Sesemann gave me leave, or else I should not
have come."

"If they were willing to let you stay, why did you not remain
where you were better off than at home?"

"Because I would a thousand times rather be with grandfather on
the mountain than anywhere else in the world."

"You will think differently perhaps when you get back there,"
grumbled the miller; and then to himself, "It's strange of her,
for she must know what it's like."

He began whistling and said no more, while Heidi looked around
her and began to tremble with excitement, for she knew every
tree along the way, and there overhead were the high jagged peaks
of the mountain looking down on her like old friends. And Heidi
nodded back to them, and grew every moment more wild with her
joy and longing, feeling as if she must jump down from the cart
and run with all her might till she reached the top. But she sat
quite still and did not move, although inwardly in such
agitation. The clock was striking five as they drove into
Dorfli. A crowd of women and children immediately surrounded the
cart, for the box and the child arriving with the miller had
excited the curiosity of everybody in the neighborhood,
inquisitive to know whence they came and whither they were going
and to whom they belonged. As the miller lifted Heidi down, she
said hastily, "Thank you, grandfather will send for the trunk,"
and was just going to run off, when first one and then another of
the bystanders caught hold of her, each one having a different
question to put to her. But Heidi pushed her way through them
with such an expression of distress on her face that they were
forced to let her go. "You see," they said to one another, "how
frightened she is, and no wonder," and then they went on to talk
of Alm-Uncle, how much worse he had grown that last year, never
speaking a word and looking as if he would like to kill
everybody he met, and if the child had anywhere else to go to she
certainly would not run back to the old dragon's den. But here
the miller interrupted them, saying he knew more about it than
they did, and began telling them how a kind gentleman had brought
her to Mayenfeld and seen her off, and had given him his fare
without any bargaining, and extra money for himself; what was
more, the child had assured him that she had had everything she
wanted where she had been, and that it was her own wish to return
to her grandfather. This information caused great surprise and
was soon repeated all over Dorfli, and that evening there was not
a house in the place in which the astounding news was not
discussed, of how Heidi had of her own accord given up a
luxurious home to return to her grandfather.

Heidi climbed up the steep path from Dorfli as quickly as she
could; she was obliged, however, to pause now and again to take
breath, for the basket she carried was rather heavy, and the way
got steeper as she drew nearer the top. One thought alone filled
Heidi's mind, "Would she find the grandmother sitting in her
usual corner by the spinning-wheel, was she still alive?" At
last Heidi caught sight of the grandmother's house in the hollow
of the mountain and her heart began to beat; she ran faster and
faster and her heart beat louder and louder—and now she had
reached the house, but she trembled so she could hardly open the
door—and then she was standing inside, unable in her
breathlessness to utter a sound.

"Ah, my God!" cried a voice from the corner, "that was how Heidi
used to run in; if only I could have her with me once again! Who
is there?"

"It's I, I, grandmother," cried Heidi as she ran and flung
herself on her knees beside the old woman, and seizing her
hands, clung to her, unable to speak for joy. And the grandmother
herself could not say a word for some time, so unexpected was
this happiness; but at last she put out her hand and stroked
Heidi's curly hair, and said, "Yes, yes, that is her hair, and
her voice; thank God that He has granted my prayer!" And tears
of joy fell from the blind eyes on to Heidi's hand. "Is it really
you, Heidi; have you really come back to me?"

"Yes, grandmother, I am really here," answered Heidi in a
reassuring voice. "Do not cry, for I have really come back and I
am never going away again, and I shall come every day to see
you, and you won't have any more hard bread to eat for some days,
for look, look!"

And Heidi took the rolls from the basket and piled the whole
twelve up on grandmother's lap.

"Ah, child! child! what a blessing you bring with you!" the old
woman exclaimed, as she felt and seemed never to come to the end
of the rolls. "But you yourself are the greatest blessing,
Heidi," and again she touched the child's hair and passed her
hand over her hot cheeks, and said, "Say something, child, that
I may hear your voice."

Then Heidi told her how unhappy she had been, thinking that the
grandmother might die while she was away and would never have
her white rolls, and that then she would never, never see her
again.

Peter's mother now came in and stood for a moment overcome with
astonishment. "Why, it's Heidi," she exclaimed, "and yet can it
be?"

Heidi stood up, and Brigitta now could not say enough in her
admiration of the child's dress and appearance; she walked round
her, exclaiming all the while, "Grandmother, if you could only
see her, and see what a pretty frock she has on; you would
hardly know her again. And the hat with the feather in it is
yours too, I suppose? Put it on that I may see how you look in
it?"

"No, I would rather not," replied Heidi firmly. "You can have it
if you like; I do not want it; I have my own still." And Heidi
so saying undid her red bundle and took out her own old hat,
which had become a little more battered still during the journey.
But this was no trouble to Heidi; she had not forgotten how her
grandfather had called out to Dete that he never wished to see
her and her hat and feathers again, and this was the reason she
had so anxiously preserved her old hat, for she had never ceased
to think about going home to her grandfather. But Brigitta told
her not to be so foolish as to give it away; she would not think
of taking such a beautiful hat; if Heidi did not want to wear it
she might sell it to the schoolmaster's daughter in Dorfli and
get a good deal of money for it. But Heidi stuck to her
intention and hid the hat quietly in a corner behind the
grandmother's chair. Then she took off her pretty dress and put
her red shawl on over her under-petticoat, which left her arms
bare; and now she clasped the old woman's hand. "I must go home
to grandfather," she said, "but to-morrow I shall come again. Good-
night, grandmother."

"Yes, come again, be sure you come again tomorrow," begged the
grandmother, as she pressed Heidi's hands in hers, unwilling to
let her go.

"Why have you taken off that pretty dress?" asked Brigitta.

"Because I would rather go home to grandfather as I am or else
perhaps he would not know me; you hardly did at first."

Brigitta went with her to the door, and there said in rather a
mysterious voice, "You might have kept on your dress, he would
have known you all right; but you must be careful, for Peter
tells me that Alm-Uncle is always now in a bad temper and never
speaks."

Heidi bid her good-night and continued her way up the mountain,
her basket on her arm. All around her the steep green slopes
shone bright in the evening sun, and soon the great gleaming snow-
field up above came in sight. Heidi was obliged to keep on
pausing to look behind her, for the higher peaks were behind her
as she climbed. Suddenly a warm red glow fell on the grass at
her feet; she looked back again—she had not remembered how
splendid it was, nor seen anything to compare to it in her dreams—
for there the two high mountain peeks rose into the air like two
great flames, the whole snow-field had turned crimson, and rosy-
colored clouds floated in the sky above. The grass upon the
mountain sides had turned to gold, the rocks were all aglow, and
the whole valley was bathed in golden mist. And as Heidi stood
gazing around her at all this splendor the tears ran down her
cheeks for very delight and happiness, and impulsively she put
her hands together, and lifting her eyes to heaven, thanked God
aloud for having brought her home, thanked Him that everything
was as beautiful as ever, more beautiful even than she had
thought, and that it was all hers again once more. And she was so
overflowing with joy and thankfulness that she could not find
words to thank Him enough. Not until the glory began to fade
could she tear herself away. Then she ran on so quickly that in
a very little while she caught sight of the tops of the fir trees
above the hut roof, then the roof itself, and at last the whole
hut, and there was grandfather sitting as in old days smoking
his pipe, and she could see the fir trees waving in the wind.
Quicker and quicker went her little feet, and before Alm-Uncle
had time to see who was coming, Heidi had rushed up to him,
thrown down her basket and flung her arms round his neck, unable
in the excitement of seeing him again to say more than
"Grandfather! grandfather! grandfather!" over and over again.