A SUMMER EVENING ON THE MOUNTAIN
Sunday frock waiting to see what would happen next, for Tinette had only woke her up with a shake and put on her clothes without a word of explanation. The little uneducated child was far too much beneath her for Tinette to speak to.
Herr Sesemann went back to the dining-room with the letter; breakfast was now ready, and he asked, “Where is the child?”
Heidi was fetched, and as she walked up to him to say “Good-morning,” he looked inquiringly into her face and said, “Well, what do you say to this, little one?”
Heidi looked at him in perplexity.
“Why, you don’t know anything about it, I see,” laughed Herr Sesemann. “You are going home today, going at once.”
“Home,” murmured Heidi in a low voice, turning pale; she was so overcome that for a moment or two she could hardly breathe.
“Don’t you want to hear more about it?”
“Oh, yes, yes!” exclaimed Heidi, her face now rosy with delight.
“All right, then,” said Herr Sesemann as he sat down and made her a sign to do the same, “but now make a good breakfast, and then off you go in the carriage.”
But Heidi could not swallow a morsel though she tried to do what she was told; she was in such a state of excitement that she hardly knew if she was awake or dreaming, or if she would again open her eyes to find herself in her nightgown at the front door.
“Tell Sebastian to take plenty of provisions with him,” Herr Sesemann called out to Fräulein Rottenmeier, who just then came into the room; “the child can’t eat anything now,
[201]
