Grandfathers -- Fiction; Mountain life -- Switzerland -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Switzerland -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction
Heidi walked up to her and said very distinctly in her clear voice,
"Good-evening, Mrs. Madam."
"Well!" said the grandmother laughing, "is that how they address people
in your home on the mountain?"
"No," replied Heidi gravely, "I never knew any one with that name
before."
"Nor I either," laughed the grandmother again as she patted Heidi's
cheek. "Never mind! when I am with the children I am always grandmamma;
you won't forget that name, will you?"
"No, no," Heidi assured her, "I often used to say it at home."
"I understand," said the grandmother, with a cheerful little nod of
the head. Then she looked more closely at Heidi, and the child looked
back at her with steady, serious eyes, for there was something kind
and warm-hearted about this newcomer that pleased Heidi, and indeed
everything about the grandmother attracted her. She had such beautiful
white hair, and two long lace ends hung down from the cap on her head
and waved gently about her face every time she moved, as if a soft
breeze were blowing round her, which gave Heidi a peculiar feeling of
pleasure.
"And what is your name, child?" the grandmother now asked.
"I am always called Heidi; but as I am now to be called Adelaide, I
will try and take care--" Heidi stopped short, for Miss Rottermeyer was
at this moment entering the room.
"Mrs. Sesemann will no doubt agree with me," she interrupted, "that it
was necessary to choose a name that could be pronounced easily, if only
for the sake of the servants."
"My worthy Rottermeyer," replied Mrs. Sesemann, "if a person is called
'Heidi' and has grown accustomed to that name, I call her by the same,
and so let it be."
Miss Rottermeyer was always very much annoyed that the old lady
continually addressed her by her surname only; but it was no use
minding, for the grandmother always went her own way, and so there
was no help for it. Moreover, the grandmother was a keen old lady, and
had all her five wits about her, and she knew what was going on in the
house as soon as she entered it.
When on the following day Clara lay down as usual on her couch after
dinner, the grandmother sat down beside her for a few minutes and
closed her eyes, then she got up again as lively as ever, and trotted
off into the dining-room. No one was there. "Heidi is asleep, I
suppose," she said to herself, and then going up to Miss Rottermeyer's
room she gave a loud knock at the door. She waited a few minutes and
then Miss Rottermeyer opened the door and drew back in surprise at this
unexpected visit.
"Where is the child, and what is she doing all this time?" said Mrs.
Sesemann.
"She is sitting in her room, where she could well employ herself if she
had the least idea of making herself useful; but you have no idea, Mrs.
Sesemann, of the out-of-the-way things this child imagines and does."
"I should do the same if I had to sit in there like that child, I can
tell you; go bring her to my room; I have some pretty books with me
that I should like to give her."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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