CHAPTER VIII
SURPRISES FOR THE CHILDREN
The tutor had just been shown into the study on the following morningwhen there came a very loud ring at the bell. Sebastian opened the doorand there stood a ragged little boy carrying a hand-organ on his back.
"What's the meaning of this?" said Sebastian angrily. "I'll teach youto ring bells like that! What do you want here?"
"I want to see Clara," the boy answered.
"You good-for-nothing little rascal, can't you be polite enough to say'Miss Clara.' What do you want with her?" continued Sebastian roughly.
"She owes me ten cents," explained the boy.
"You must be out of your mind! And how do you know that any young ladyof that name lives here?"
"She owes me five for showing her the way there, and five for showingher the way back."
"The young lady never goes out, cannot even walk; be off and get backto where you came from, before I have to help you along."
But the boy was not to be frightened away, and said in a determinedvoice, "But I saw her in the street, and can describe her to you; shehas short, curly black hair, and black eyes, and wears a brown dress,and does not talk quite like we do."
"Oho!" thought Sebastian, laughing to himself, "the little miss hasevidently been up to more mischief." Then, drawing the boy inside hesaid aloud, "I understand now, come with me and wait outside the doortill I tell you to go in. Be sure you begin playing your organ theinstant you get inside the room; the lady is very fond of music."
Sebastian knocked at the study door, and a voice said, "Come in."
"There is a boy outside who says he must speak to Miss Clara herself,"Sebastian announced.
Clara was delighted at such an extraordinary and unexpected message.
"Let him come in at once," replied Clara.
The boy was already inside the room, and according to Sebastian'sdirections immediately began to play his organ. Miss Rottermeyerhearing the music rushed into the room and saw the ragged boy turningaway at his organ in the most energetic manner.
"Leave off! leave off at once!" she screamed. But her voice was drownedby the music. She was making a dash for the boy, when she saw somethingon the ground crawling towards her feet--a dreadful dark object--atortoise. At this sight she jumped higher than she had for many longyears before, shrieking with all her might, "Sebastian! Sebastian!"
"Take them all out, boy and animal! Get them away at once!" shecommanded him.
Sebastian pulled the boy away, the latter having quickly caught up histortoise, and when he had got him outside he put something into hishand. "There is the ten cents from Miss Clara, and another ten centsfor the music. You did it all quite right!" and with that he shut thefront door upon him.
Quietness reigned again in the study, and lessons began once more; MissRottermeyer now stayed in the study in order to prevent any furtherdreadful goings-on.
MISS ROTTERMEYER JUMPED HIGHER THAN SHE HAD FORMANY LONG YEARS]
But soon another knock came to the door, and Sebastian again steppedin, this time to say that someone had brought a large basket withorders that it was to be given at once to Miss Clara.
"For me?" said Clara in astonishment, her curiosity very much excited,"bring it in at once that I may see what it is like."
Sebastian carried in a large covered basket and retired.
"I think the lessons had better be finished first before the basket isunpacked," said Miss Rottermeyer.
Clara could not conceive what was in it, and cast longing glancestowards it. In the middle of one of her declensions she suddenly brokeoff and said to the tutor, "Mayn't I just give one peep inside to seewhat is in it before I go on?"
"On some considerations I am for it, on others against it," he beganin answer; "for it, on the ground that if your whole attention isdirected to the basket--" but the speech remained unfinished. The coverof the basket was loose, and at this moment one, two, three, and thentwo more kittens came suddenly tumbling on to the floor and racingabout the room in every direction. They jumped over the tutor's boots,climbed up Miss Rottermeyer's dress, rolled about her feet, sprang upon to Clara's couch, scratching, scrambling, and mewing. Clara kept onexclaiming, "Oh, the dear little things! how pretty they are! Look,Heidi, at this one; look, look, at that one over there!" And Heidi inher delight kept running after them first into one corner and then intothe other. The tutor stood up by the table not knowing what to do. MissRottermeyer was unable at first to speak at all, so overcome was shewith horror, and she did not dare rise from her chair for fear that allthe dreadful little animals should jump upon her at once. At last shefound voice to call loudly, "Tinette! Tinette! Sebastian! Sebastian!"
They came in answer to her summons and gathered up the kittens; bydegrees they got them all inside the basket again and then carried themoff to put with the other two.
When Miss Rottermeyer learned that Heidi was to blame for having thekittens brought into the house she was very angry and said:
"Adelaide, you little barbarian, you shall be put in a dark cellar withthe rats and black beetles."
Heidi listened in silence and surprise to her sentence, for she hadnever seen a cellar such as was now described; the place known at hergrandfather's as the cellar, where the fresh cheeses and the new milkwere kept, was a pleasant and inviting place; neither did she know atall what rats and black beetles were like.
But now Clara interrupted in great distress. "No, no, Miss Rottermeyer,you must wait till papa comes; he has written to say that he will soonbe home, and then I will tell him everything, and he will say what isto be done with Heidi."
Miss Rottermeyer could not do anything against this superior authority,especially as the father was really expected very shortly. She rose andsaid with some displeasure, "As you will, Clara, but I too shall havesomething to say to Mr. Sesemann." And with that she left the room.
Two days now went by without further disturbance. Miss Rottermeyer,however, could not recover her equanimity; she was perpetually remindedby Heidi's presence of the deception that had been played upon her,and it seemed to her that ever since the child had come into thehouse everything had been topsy-turvy, and she could not bring thingsinto proper order again. Clara had grown much more cheerful; she nolonger found time hang heavy during the lesson hours, for Heidi wascontinually making a diversion of some kind or other. She jumbled allher letters up together and seemed quite unable to learn them, andwhen the tutor tried to draw her attention to their different shapes,and to help her by showing her that this was like a little horn,or that like a bird's bill, she would suddenly exclaim in a joyfulvoice, "That is a goat!" "That is a bird of prey!". For the tutor'sdescriptions suggested all kinds of pictures to her mind, but left herstill incapable of the alphabet. In the later afternoons Heidi alwayssat with Clara, and told her of the mountain and of her life upon it,and the longing to return would become so overpowering that she alwaysfinished with the words, "Now I must go home! tomorrow I must reallygo!" But Clara would try to quiet her and tell Heidi that she mustwait till her father returned, and then they would see what was to bedone. After dinner Heidi had to sit alone in her room for a couple ofhours, for she understood now that she might not run about outside atFrankfurt as she did on the mountain, and so she did not attempt it.
At times she could hardly contain herself for the longing to be backhome again. She remembered that Dete had told her that she could gohome whenever she liked. So it came about one day that Heidi felt shecould not bear it any longer. She tied all the rolls up in her redshawl, put on her straw hat, and went downstairs. But just as shereached the hall-door she met Miss Rottermeyer, just returning from awalk, which put a stop to Heidi's journey.
"What have you dressed yourself like that for?" exclaimed MissRottermeyer. "What do you mean by this? Have I not strictly forbiddenyou to go running about in the streets? And here you are ready to startoff again, and going out looking like a beggar."
"I was not going to run about, I was going
home," said Heidi frightened.
"What are you talking about! Going home! What would Mr. Sesemann sayif he knew! And what is the matter with his house, I should like toknow! Have you ever in your life before had such a house to live in,such a table, or so many to wait upon you? Have you?"
"No," replied Heidi.
"I should think not, indeed!" continued the exasperated lady. "You arean ungrateful little thing to be always thinking of what naughty thingyou can do next!"
Then Heidi's feelings got the better of her, and she poured forth hertrouble. "Indeed I only want to go home, for if I stay so long awaySnowflake will begin crying again, and grandmother is waiting for me,and Greenfinch will get beaten, because I am not there to give Peterany cheese, and I can never see here how the sun says good-night to themountains; and if the great bird were to fly over Frankfurt he wouldcroak louder than ever about people huddling all together and teachingeach other bad things, and not going to live up on the rocks, where itis so much better."
"Heaven have mercy on us, the child is out of her mind!" cried MissRottermeyer, and she turned and went quickly up the steps. "Go andbring that unhappy little creature in at once," she ordered Sebastian.
"What, are you in trouble again?" said Sebastian in a pleasant voice,as he led Heidi back up the stairs. He tried to cheer her up by tellingher he was taking good care of all the kittens. But she was too sad tocare and silently crept away to her room.
At supper that evening she sat without moving or eating; all she didwas to hastily hide her roll in her pocket.
Next day Miss Rottermeyer made up her mind that she would supplementHeidi's clothing with various garments from Clara's wardrobe, so as togive her a decent appearance when Mr. Sesemann returned. She confidedher intention to Clara, who was quite willing to give up any numberof dresses and hats to Heidi; so the lady went upstairs to overhaulthe child's belongings and see what was to be kept and what thrownaway. She returned, however, in the course of a few minutes with anexpression of horror upon her face.
"What is this, Adelaide, that I find in your wardrobe!" she exclaimed."I never heard of any one doing such a thing before! In a cupboardmeant for clothes, Adelaide, what do I see at the bottom but a heap ofrolls! Will you believe it, Clara, bread in a wardrobe! a whole pile ofbread!"
"Tinette," she called, "go upstairs and take away all those rolls outof Adelaide's cupboard and the old straw hat on the table."
"No! no!" screamed Heidi. "I must keep the hat, and the rolls are forgrandmother," and she was rushing to stop Tinette when Miss Rottermeyercaught hold of her: "You will stop here, and all that bread and rubbishshall be taken to the place they belong to," she said in a determinedtone as she kept her hand on the child to prevent her running forward.
Heidi flung herself down on Clara's couch and broke into a wild fitof weeping, sobbing out at intervals, "Now grandmother's bread is allgone! They were all for grandmother, and now they are taken away, andgrandmother won't have one," and she wept as if her heart would break.
She could not get over her sobs for a long time; she would never havebeen able to leave off crying at all if it had not been for Clara'spromise that she should have fresh, new rolls to take to grandmotherwhen the time came for her to go home.
When Heidi got into bed that night she found her old straw hat lyingunder the counterpane. She snatched it up with delight, made it moreout of shape still in her joy, and then, after wrapping a handkerchiefround it, she stuck it in a corner of the cupboard as far back as shecould.
It was Sebastian who had hidden it there for her; he had been in thedining-room when Tinette was called, and had heard all that went onwith the child and the latter's loud weeping. So he followed Tinette,and when she came out of Heidi's room carrying the rolls and the hat,he caught up the hat and said, "I will see to this old thing."