and to being with you on the mountain, and to making the
acquaintance of Peter and the goats.
"I shall have first to go through a six weeks' cure at Ragatz;
this the doctor has ordered, and then we shall move up to
Dorfli, and every fine day I shall be carried up the mountain in
my chair and spend the day with you. Grandmamma is travelling
with me and will remain with me; she also is delighted at the
thought of paying you a visit. But just imagine, Fraulein
Rottenmeier refuses to come with us. Almost every day grandmamma
says to her, 'Well, how about this Swiss journey, my worthy
Rottenmeier? Pray say if you really would like to come with us.'
But she always thanks grandmamma very politely and says she has
quite made up her mind. I think I know what has done it:
Sebastian gave such a frightful description of the mountain, of
how the rocks were so overhanging and dangerous that at any
minute you might fall into a crevasse, and how it was such steep
climbing that you feared at every step to go slipping to the
bottom, and that goats alone could make their way up without fear
of being killed. She shuddered when she heard him tell of all
this, and since then she has not been so enthusiastic about
Switzerland as she was before. Fear has also taken possession of
Tinette, and she also refuses to come. So grandmamma and I will
be alone; Sebastian will go with us as far as Ragatz and then
return here.
"I can hardly bear waiting till I see you again. Good-bye,
dearest Heidi; grandmamma sends you her best love and all good
wishes.--Your affectionate friend,
"Clara."
Peter, as soon as the conclusion of the letter had been reached,
left his reclining position and rushed out, twirling his stick
in the air in such a reckless fashion that the frightened goats
fled down the mountain before him with higher and wider leaps
than usual. Peter followed at full speed, his stick still raised
in air in a menacing manner as if he was longing to vent his fury
on some invisible foe. This foe was indeed the prospect of the
arrival of the Frankfurt visitors, the thought of whom filled
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