Heidi

16 A Visitor for Heidi

Dawn was breaking over the mountains and a fresh breeze blew through the branches of the old fir trees, making the rustling sound Heidi loved so well. It woke her, and she jumped out of bed, so impatient to get to the trees that she could hardly wait to dress. But she had learnt now to like being neat and tidy, so she took the time to put her clothes on properly before she climbed down the ladder. Her grandfather’s bed was already empty, for he was outside, looking round as he did every morning to see what kind of day it was going to be. Rosy clouds were floating by in the clear blue morning sky, and the sun was just coming over the tops of the mountains, bringing a wash of gold to the rocky peaks and pastures.

‘Oh how beautiful!’ exclaimed Heidi, as she ran out into it. ‘Good morning, Grandfather. Isn’t everything lovely today?’

‘What, you awake already?’ he replied.

She ran over to the trees and skipped delightedly about under the waving branches, giving an extra little jump with each gust of wind which blew through them. Uncle Alp went into the stall and milked the goats. Then he washed them, and brushed them, and brought them outside ready for their daily journey. As soon as Heidi saw them she ran and put her arms round their necks and patted them. They bleated a greeting, and rubbed their heads against her shoulder as a sign of their affection.

They pressed so close she was almost squashed between them but she did not mind that a bit. Only when the brown goat got too boisterous, she cried, ‘Really, Dusky, you’re as bad as Turk,’ and Dusky immediately drew back. Daisy stood a little aloof, looking as though she hoped no one could accuse her of behaving like Turk. She was always the more sedate of the two.

Peter was whistling as he came up the path, and soon the whole herd appeared, led by frisky Finch. They immediately bounded up to Heidi, pushing her from one side to the other as they greeted her in their own obstreperous fashion. She made her way through them to Snowflake who, being timid, had not been able to get near Heidi. Peter wanted to talk to Heidi himself, so he gave a particularly piercing whistle, which drove the animals off for the moment.

‘You might come up with me today,’ he said to her.

‘I can’t, Peter. My nice people from Frankfurt might come any minute now, and I must be here when they do.’

‘You keep saying that,’ he grumbled.

‘I shall go on saying it until they arrive,’ she answered. ‘I daresay you don’t think it’s necessary, but how could I not?’

‘Uncle would be here,’ he persisted.

At that moment, Uncle Alp called loudly from the hut, ‘What’s the delay? Is it the Field‐Marshal or his troops?’

At that Peter turned and slashed his stick through the air. The goats recognized the signal and ran off at full tilt to their high pasture and he followed them.

Heidi had brought several new ideas back with her from Frankfurt. She made her bed every morning now, tucking in the clothes so that it looked smooth and trim. Then she tidied up the hut, setting each chair in its proper place and putting anything which might be lying about back in the cupboard. After that she fetched a duster, climbed on a stool and polished the table till it shone. When her grandfather came in, he used to look round at her work, well pleased, and say to himself, ‘We look like Sunday every day now! Heidi didn’t go away for nothing.’

They had breakfast together as soon as Peter had gone that day, and then Heidi started the housework. But she did not get on with it very fast. First one thing, then another, distracted her. A sunbeam shone straight through the open window and seemed to be calling to her to come out. Out she ran, and found everything so beautiful and the ground so warm and dry that she could not resist sitting down for a while, just to look at the meadows and the trees and the mountains. Then she remembered she had left the three‐legged stool standing in the middle of the hut and that she had not polished the table, so up she jumped and ran in. But before long the rustling fir trees called her outside again. Grandfather was busy in the shed, but every now and then he came out to watch her dancing about in rhythm with the swaying branches. He had just gone in again when he heard her call, ‘Grandfather, Grandfather! Come quickly!’ He hurried out, afraid that something must be wrong, and saw her running away from him, down the slope.

‘They’re coming! They’re coming!’ she shouted over her shoulder. ‘That’s the doctor in front.’ She rushed on and greeted him affectionately. ‘Doctor, Doctor! Thank you again a thousand times!’

‘Bless you, child,’ cried the doctor. ‘What are you thanking me for?’

‘Why, for sending me home to Grandfather.’

The doctor’s face brightened. He had not expected a reception like this. Indeed he had felt rather gloomy as he climbed the mountain, and had not even noticed the beautiful surroundings. He had imagined that Heidi would scarcely remember him, for she had seen very little of him, and he was sure she would be disappointed to see him instead of her dear friends. But apparently she was overjoyed, for she held his arm tightly and lovingly.

‘Come, Heidi,’ he said, taking her hand in a fatherly way. ‘Take me to your grandfather and show me where you live.’

But she did not move. She was looking down the mountain path, puzzled. ‘Where are Clara and Grandmamma?’ she asked at last.

‘I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you, Heidi,’ he replied. ‘I’ve come alone. Clara has been very ill and wasn’t fit to travel, and so of course Grandmamma stayed with her. But they’ll come in the spring, as soon as the days begin to get longer and warmer.’

Heidi was very upset then, and found it difficult to believe that what she had looked forward to so long was not going to happen after all. For a minute or two she could not speak, and the doctor gazed in silence about him. Then the pleasure she had felt as she ran to meet him came back to her, and she remembered that he, at least, had come to visit her.

She looked up at him and saw the lonely look in his eyes which she did not remember seeing there when she was in Frankfurt. She could not bear to see anyone unhappy, least of all the good doctor, and thinking his sadness must be because Clara and her grandmother had not been able to accompany him, she tried to comfort him.

‘Oh, it will soon be spring,’ she reminded him, and herself. ‘Time goes quickly up here. They’ll be able to stay longer then, and Clara will like that. Now come and see Grandfather.’

They went towards the hut hand in hand. In her anxiety to chase the shadow from his eyes, she told him again and again how soon summer would come, and almost convinced herself of it, so that when they reached her grandfather, she called out, ‘They haven’t come yet, but they will quite soon.’

The doctor seemed no stranger to Uncle Alp, for Heidi had talked a great deal about him, and the old man put out his hand and welcomed him warmly. They sat down together on the seat outside, and the doctor made room for Heidi beside him. Sitting there in the September sunshine, he told them how Mr Sesemann had suggested he should come, and that it had seemed to him a good idea because he hadn’t been feeling well lately. Then he whispered to Heidi that there was something being brought up the mountain for her, something from Frankfurt, which would give her much more pleasure than he could. This news, of course, excited all her curiosity.

‘I hope you’ll spend as many of these beautiful autumn days as you can on the mountain,’ said Uncle Alp, explaining that unfortunately they could offer him no lodging in the hut, but that there was a good little inn at Dörfli. ‘There is no need to go all the way back to Ragaz,’ he assured him. ‘Ours is a simple little place, but clean. Then you could come up to us every day, which I know will do you good, and if you would like it, I will be your guide over any part of the mountains you wish to see.’

This suited the doctor very well and he accepted the suggestion with pleasure.

The sun by now was overhead, for it was midday, and the fir trees stood motionless. Uncle Alp went indoors and brought out the table which he placed in front of the seat. ‘Heidi,’ he said, ‘bring out what we need. The doctor must take us as he finds us. Our food is simple, but he will agree that the dining‐room is fine!’

‘I do indeed,’ said the doctor, looking down on the valley, which was gleaming in the sunlight. ‘I shall be glad to accept your invitation. Everything will taste extra good up here.’

Heidi ran back and forth, bringing out everything she could find in the cupboard. She felt very proud to be helping to entertain the doctor. Grandfather was preparing the food, and came out presently with a steaming jug of milk and a piece of golden toasted cheese. Then he cut thin slices of the delicious meat which he had dried in the open air during the summer, and the doctor enjoyed his meal more than any he had eaten that year.

‘This is certainly the place for Clara to come to,’ he declared. ‘She would soon become a different person if she could eat as I have today, and get quite plump and rosy.’

There was a man coming towards them with a huge bundle on his back, and as he reached the hut, he lowered it on to the ground and filled his lungs with great draughts of mountain air.

‘Ah, here’s what came with me from Frankfurt,’ said the doctor. He went over and began to undo the parcel, then he said, ‘Now, my dear, you can unpack it for yourself.’

Heidi, speechless with excitement, began at once and when all the things had been spread out, she just stared at them in amazement. It was only when the doctor opened the box of cakes, and showed her that they were for Grannie to have with her coffee, that she found her tongue again. She wanted to hurry down with them at once, but her grandfather suggested they would go down together later on, when it was time for the doctor to leave. Then she found the pouch of tobacco, and how pleased the old man was! He filled his pipe at once, and after that the two men sat together on the bench, smoking and talking, while Heidi went on opening all her lovely presents. After a while she came across to them and waited for a pause in the conversation to say, ‘What you said was not right, Doctor. All these nice things put together aren’t as nice as seeing you!’ They both laughed at this pronouncement, which the doctor said he certainly had not expected.

As the sun began to go down, the doctor rose, thinking it time to go to the village and see about quarters. He took Heidi by the hand, and her grandfather carried the box of cakes, the shawl, and the sausage, and thus they went off together as far as Peter’s home. There Heidi said goodbye to the doctor and asked him:

‘Would you like to go up to the pasture with the goats tomorrow?’ for this was the greatest treat she could offer him.

‘That’ll be fine,’ he replied. ‘We’ll go together.’ The two men went on to Dörfli, and Heidi ran in to Grannie. Uncle Alp had put the presents down in front of the door, and Heidi fetched them in, one by one, first the cakes (and the box was so big she staggered under the weight), then the sausage and lastly the shawl. She brought them close up so that Grannie could put her hands on them and know what they were.

‘They’ve come all the way from Frankfurt, from Clara and Grandmamma,’ she explained, and both Grannie and Bridget were duly impressed. Indeed Peter’s mother had been too surprised to lend a hand and had simply stared while Heidi lugged the heavy things into the cottage.

‘Grannie, aren’t you pleased with the cakes? Feel how soft they are for you to eat.’

‘Yes, child. What kind people they are.’ The old woman stroked the warm, soft shawl. ‘This will be wonderful in the winter. I’ve never looked to have anything as fine as that.’

Heidi was surprised that she seemed to like the grey shawl even better than the cakes; but Bridget stood looking almost reverently at the sausage on the table. She had never seen such an enormous one before, and could hardly believe that it was all for her and Grannie and Peter. ‘I must ask Uncle what to do with it,’ she said, shaking her head doubtfully.

‘You’re to eat it, that’s all,’ declared Heidi.

And then Peter came tumbling in, calling out, ‘Uncle Alp’s just coming and Heidi’s to…’ He got no further for his eyes fell on the sausage, and the sight quite robbed him of speech. However Heidi guessed what he had been going to say and quickly kissed Grannie goodbye.

As a rule now, Uncle Alp never passed the hut without a cheery word for Grannie, and she always listened for his step. But this time it was late, more than time for Heidi to be in bed after getting up so early, for he was very particular about her having plenty of sleep. So he just called a greeting through the open door, took Heidi’s hand, and together they went on, up the path under the starry sky to their peaceful little home.