direction of her outstretched hand.
A strange looking procession was making its way up the mountain;
in front were two men carrying a sedan chair, in which sat a
girl well wrapped up in shawls; then followed a horse, mounted by
a stately-looking lady who was looking about her with great
interest and talking to the guide who walked beside her; then a
reclining chair, which was being pushed up by another man, it
having evidently been thought safer to send the invalid to whom
it belonged up the steep path in a sedan chair. The procession
wound up with a porter, with such a bundle of cloaks, shawls,
and furs on his back that it rose well above his head.
"Here they come! here they come!" shouted Heidi, jumping with
joy. And sure enough it was the party from Frankfurt; the
figures came nearer and nearer, and at last they had actually
arrived. The men in front put down their burden, Heidi rushed
forward and the two children embraced each other with mutual
delight. Grandmamma having also reached the top, dismounted, and
gave Heidi an affectionate greeting, before turning to the
grandfather, who had meanwhile come up to welcome his guests.
There was no constraint about the meeting, for they both knew
each other perfectly well from hearsay and felt like old
acquaintances.
After the first words of greeting had been exchanged grandmamma
broke out into lively expressions of admiration. "What a
magnificent residence you have, Uncle! I could hardly have
believed it was so beautiful! A king might well envy you! And
how well my little Heidi looks--like a wild rose!" she continued,
drawing the child towards her and stroking her fresh pink
cheeks. "I don't know which way to look first, it is all so
lovely! What do you say to it, Clara, what do you say?"
Clara was gazing round entranced; she had never imagined, much
less seen, anything so beautiful. She gave vent to her delight
in cries of joy. "O grandmamma," she said, "I should like to
remain here for ever."
The grandfather had meanwhile drawn up the invalid chair and
199