Heidi (1899)/Part 1/Chapter 9

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A few days after this occurrence there was a great bustle in the Sesemann house, and hurried running up and down stairs, for the master of the house had just returned from his journey. Sebastian and Tinette were bringing in one package after another from the well-laden carriage, for Herr Sesemann always brought home many beautiful things.

He went first of all to his daughter's room to greet her. Heidi was sitting beside her, for it was late in the afternoon, when the two were always together. Klara greeted her father with great tenderness, for she loved him dearly, and the good papa showed no less affection toward his little Klara. Then he reached out his hand to Heidi, who had quietly withdrawn into a corner, and said kindly:—

"And this is our little Swiss girl, I suppose; come here and give me your hand! That's right! Now tell me, are you and Klara good friends? You do not quarrel and get cross, and then cry and make up, and then begin all over again?"

"No, Klara is always good to me," replied Heidi.

​"And Heidi has never tried to quarrel, papa," quickly added Klara.

"That's good; I am glad to hear that," said her papa as he rose. "But now you must allow me, Klärchen, to get some luncheon, for I have had nothing to eat to-day. Later I will come back to you, and you shall see what I have brought home.".

Herr Sesemann went into the dining-room, where Fräulein Rottenmeier was overseeing the table laid for his midday meal. After Herr Sesemann had sat down, and the lady, looking like a living picture of gloom, had taken a seat opposite him, the master of the house said to her:—

"Fräulein Rottenmeier, what am I to think? You have put on a truly alarming face at my return. What is the matter? Klara is very lively."

"Herr Sesemann," began the lady with impressive earnestness, "Klara is also concerned; we have been frightfully deceived."

"How so?" asked Herr Sesemann, calmly sipping his coffee.

"We had decided, as you know, Herr Sesemann, to have a companion for Klara in the house, and as I knew very well how particular you were to have only good and noble associates for your daughter, I fixed my mind on a young Swiss girl, expecting to see such a person appear as I had often read about—one who sprung up in the pure mountain air, so to speak; goes through life without touching the earth."

"I think," remarked Herr Sesemann, "that Swiss ​children touch the earth, if they move along, otherwise they would have wings instead of feet."

"Ah, Herr Sesemann, you know what I mean," continued the Fräulein. "I mean one of those well-known forms living in the pure mountain regions, and which pass by us like an ideal breath."

"But what would my Klara do with an ideal breath, Fräulein Rottenmeier?"

"No, Herr Sesemann, I am not joking; the matter is more serious to me than you think; I have been frightfully, really quite frightfully deceived."

"But how so frightfully? The child does n't seem to me so very frightful," remarked Herr Sesemann calmly.

"You should know just one thing, Herr Sesemann, only one—what sort of people and animals this creature has filled your house with in your absence; the Herr Kandidat can tell you about that."

"With animals? What am I to understand by that, Fräulein Rottenmeier?"

"It is not to be understood; this creature's whole conduct is past understanding, except from one point of view, that she has attacks of being out of her mind."

Up to this time Herr Sesemann had not taken the matter seriously; but "out of her mind"? This might have serious consequences for his daughter. Herr Sesemann looked at Fräulein Rottenmeier very closely, as if he wished first to assure himself that she herself was not troubled in that way. Just at this moment the door opened and the Herr Kandidat was ushered in.

"Ah, here comes our Herr Kandidat, who will ​give us an explanation!" exclaimed Herr Sesemann to him. "Come, come and sit down by me!" and he held out his hand to him.

"The Herr Kandidat will drink a cup of black coffee with me, Fräulein Rottenmeier! Sit down, sit down; don't be formal! And now tell me, my dear sir, what is the matter with the child who has come into my house to be a companion for my daughter, and whom you are teaching. What is the story about her bringing animals into the house, and what is the matter with her mind?"

The Herr Kandidat had first to express his pleasure at Herr Sesemann's safe return and bid him welcome home; but Herr Sesemann urged him to give his opinion about the matter in question. So the Herr Kandidat began:—

"If I were to speak my mind about the character of this little girl, I should first of all make especial mention of the fact that if, on the one hand, she shows a lack of development, which through a more or less neglected education, or, to express it better, occasioned by a somewhat tardy instruction, on the contrary, her good qualities unquestionably showing the seclusion of a long abode in the Alps, which, if it does n't exceed a certain length of time, without doubt has its good side"—

"My dear Herr Kandidat," interrupted Herr Sesemann, "you are really giving yourself too much trouble; tell me, has the child alarmed you by bringing in animals, and what do you think of her society for my little daughter?"

​"I don't wish in any way to offend the young girl," the Herr Kandidat began again, "for if she, on the one hand, shows a certain kind of social inexperience, due to the more or less uncultivated life in which she moved up to the time of her coming to Frankfurt, which coming"—

"Pray excuse me, Herr Kandidat, don't trouble yourself, I will—I must hasten to look after my daughter."

Whereupon Herr Sesemann hurried out of the room and did not return. He went into the library and sat down beside his little daughter; Heidi rose from her seat. Herr Sesemann turned toward the child, saying: "Look here, little girl, bring me—wait a moment—bring me"—Herr Sesemann did not exactly know what he wanted, but he wished to send Heidi away for a little while; "bring me a glass of water."

"Fresh water?" asked Heidi.

"Yes, indeed! yes, indeed! quite fresh!" answered Herr Sesemann.

Heidi disappeared.

"Now, my dear little Klara," said her papa, while he drew near to his daughter and took her hand in his, "tell me clearly and distinctly what sort of animals your companion brought into the house, and why Fräulein Rottenmeier should think that she is sometimes not quite right in her head; can you tell me that?"

Klara was able to do so, for the worthy lady in her horror had spoken to her also about Heidi's perplexing words, the meaning of which was clear to Klara. She ​first told her father about the turtle and the kittens, and then explained to him Heidi's remark which had so shocked Fräulein Rottenmeier. Herr Sesemann burst into a hearty laugh.

"So you don't care to have me send the child home, Klärchen; you are not tired of her?" asked her father.

"No, no, papa; don't do that!" exclaimed Klara imploringly. "Since Heidi has been here something always happens every day, and the time goes so quickly; not at all as it did before she came, when nothing ever happened! Heidi tells me so many things."

"Very good, very good, Klärchen; and here comes your little friend back again. Have you brought cool, ​fresh water?" asked Herr Sesemann as Heidi offered him a glass of water.

"Yes , fresh from the well," replied Heidi.

"Did you run to the well yourself, Heidi?" asked Klara.

"Yes, indeed; it is perfectly fresh, but I had to go a long way, for there were so many people at the first well. So I went through the whole street, but there were just as many people at the second well; then I went to another street, and there I got the water; and the gentleman with the white hair sent his regards to Herr Sesemann."

"So your expedition was very successful?" said Herr Sesemann, laughing; "and who is this gentleman?"

"He was passing by the well, and then stood still and said: As you have a glass, you might give me a drink; to whom are you going to take the water?' And I said: To Herr Sesemann. Then he laughed very loud and told me to give you his regards, and also said: Herr Sesemann ought to enjoy it.'"

"Who could it have been? How did the gentleman look?" asked Herr Sesemann.

"He laughed pleasantly and had a big gold chain and a gold thing with a large red stone hanging from it, and there was a horse's head on his cane."

"That is the doctor"—"That is my old doctor," said Klara and her father at the same time; and Herr Sesemann laughed again to himself at the thought of his friend and how he would regard this new way of having his supply of water brought to him.

​That same evening, while Herr Sesemann and Fräulein Rottenmeier were sitting alone in the dining-room and talking over all sorts of household matters, he told her that his daughter's companion was to remain in the house; he thought that the child was in a normal condition, and his daughter found her society very pleasant and more enjoyable than any other.

"I wish, therefore," he added very positively, "to have this child always treated kindly, and that her peculiarities shall not be considered as sins. If you should not be able to deal with the child alone, you have the prospect of valuable assistance, for my mother is coming very soon to my house to make a long visit, and she manages every one, no matter how singular they are. You are well aware of that, Fräulein Rottenmeier?"

"Yes, indeed, I know that, Herr Sesemann," replied the lady, but not with an expression of relief at the assured prospect of help.

Herr Sesemann had only a short time to remain at home now, and after two weeks business called him back to Paris, and as his little daughter would not consent to his going away so soon, he consoled her with the promise of a visit from her grandmamma, who might be expected in a few days.

Herr Sesemann had hardly left home when a letter came announcing that Frau Sesemann had started from Holstein, where she lived on an old estate. She would arrive at a certain hour on the following day, and the carriage was to be sent to the railway station for her.

​Klara was greatly delighted by the news, and told Heidi that evening so much about her grandmamma that Heidi, too, began to talk about the "grandmamma"; and Fräulein Rottenmeier looked at her disapprovingly, but the child did not think this anything strange, as she felt perpetually under her disapproval. When she started later to go to her room, Fräulein Rottenmeier called her first into hers, and explained then and there that she must never use the name "grandmamma," but must address her as "gnädige Frau."^[1]

"Do you understand this?" asked the lady as Heidi looked at her somewhat doubtfully; but she gave her such a forbidding look in return that Heidi asked for no more explanation, although she did not understand the title.