Miss Rottermeyer rose slowly and went up to the little new companion for the daughter of the house, to see what she was like. She did not seem very pleased with her appearance. Heidi was dressed in her plain little woolen frock, and her hat was an old straw one bent out of shape. The child looked innocently out from beneath it, gazing with unconcealed astonishment at the lady's towering head dress. [Illustration] "What is your name?" asked Miss Rottermeyer, after examining the child for some minutes, while Heidi in return kept her eyes steadily fixed upon the lady. "Heidi," she answered in a clear, ringing voice. "What? what? that's no Christian name for a child; you were not christened that. What name did they give you when you were baptized?" continued Miss Rottermeyer. "I do not remember," replied Heidi. "What a way to answer!" said the lady, shaking her head. "Dete, is the child a simpleton or only saucy?" "If the lady will allow me, I will speak for the child, for she is very unaccustomed to strangers," said Dete, who had given Heidi a silent poke for making such an unsuitable answer. "She is certainly not stupid nor yet saucy, she speaks exactly as she thinks. This is the first time she has ever been in a gentleman's house and she does not know good manners; but she is very willing to learn. She was christened Adelaide, after her mother, my sister, who is now dead." "Well, that's a name that one can pronounce," remarked Miss Rottermeyer. "But I must tell you, Dete, that I am astonished to see so young a child. I told you that I wanted a companion of the same age as the young lady of the house, one who could share her lessons, and all her other occupations. Miss Clara is now over twelve; what age is this child?" "If the lady will allow me," began Dete again, in her usual fluent manner, "I myself had lost count of her exact age; she is certainly a little younger, but not much; I cannot say precisely, but I think she is ten, or thereabouts." "Grandfather told me I was eight," put in Heidi. Dete gave her another poke, but as the child had not the least idea why she did so she was not at all confused. "What--only eight!" cried Miss Rottermeyer angrily. "Four years too young! Of what use is such a child! And what have you learnt? What books did you have to learn from?" "None," said Heidi. "How? what? How then did you learn to read?" continued the lady. "I have never learnt to read, or Peter either," Heidi informed her. "Mercy upon us! you do not know how to read! is it really so?" exclaimed Miss Rottermeyer, greatly horrified. "Is it possible--not able to read? What have you learnt then?" "Nothing," said Heidi with unflinching truthfulness. "Young woman," said the lady to Dete, "this is not at all the sort of companion we want. How could you think of bringing me a child like this?"