HEIDI
And Heidi looked up with equal pleasure into Herr Sesemann’s kind face. How good he had always been to her! And that he should find such happiness awaiting him up here on the mountain made her heart beat with gladness.
Grandmamma now led her son to introduce him to Uncle, and while the two men were shaking hands and Herr Sesemann was expressing his heartfelt thanks and boundless astonishment to the old man, grandmamma wandered round to the back to see the old fir trees again.
Here another unexpected sight met her gaze, for there, under the trees where the long branches had left a clear space on the ground, stood a great bush of the most wonderful dark blue gentians, as fresh and shining as if they were growing on the spot. She clasped her hands, enraptured with their beauty.
“How exquisite! what a lovely sight!” she exclaimed. “Heidi, dearest child, come here! Is it you who have prepared this pleasure for me? It is perfectly wonderful!”
The children ran up.
“No, no, I did not put them there,” said Heidi, “but I know who did.”
“They grow just like that on the mountain, grandmamma, only if anything they look more beautiful still,” Clara put in; “but guess who brought those down to-day,” and as she spoke she gave such a pleased smile that the grandmother thought for a moment the child herself must have gathered them. But that was hardly possible.
At this moment a slight rustling was heard behind the fir trees. It was Peter, who had just arrived. He had made a long round, having seen from the distance who it was standing be-
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