path descended, crying, "They are coming! they are coming! and
the doctor is in front of them!"
Heidi rushed forward to welcome her old friend, who held out his
hands in greeting to her. When she came up to him she clung to
his outstretched arm, and exclaimed in the joy of her heart,
"Good-morning, doctor, and thank you ever so many times."
"God bless you, child! what have you got to thank me for?" asked
the doctor, smiling.
"For being at home again with grandfather," the child explained.
The doctor's face brightened as if a sudden ray of sunshine had
passed across it; he had not expected such a reception as this.
Lost in the sense of his loneliness he had climbed the mountain
without heeding how beautiful it was on every side, and how more
and more beautiful it became the higher he got. He had quite
thought that Heidi would have forgotten him; she had seen so
little of him, and he had felt rather like one bearing a message
of disappointment, anticipating no great show of favor, coming
as he did without the expected friends. But instead, here was
Heidi, her eyes dancing for joy, and full of gratitude and
affection, clinging to the arm of her kind friend.
He took her by the hand with fatherly tenderness.
"Take me now to your grandfather, Heidi, and show me where you
live."
But Heidi still remained standing, looking down the path with a
questioning gaze. "Where are Clara and grandmother?" she asked.
"Ah, now I have to tell you something which you will be as sorry
about as I am," answered the doctor. "You see, Heidi, I have
come alone. Clara was very ill and could not travel, and so the
grandmother stayed behind too. But next spring, when the days
grow warm and long again, they are coming here for certain."
Heidi was greatly concerned; she could not at first bring
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