Page:Heidi - Spyri - 1922.djvu/173

 “I am always called Heidi; but as I am now to be called Adelaide, I will try and take care—” Heidi stopped short, for she felt a little guilty; she had not yet grown accustomed to this name; she continued not to respond when Fräulein Rottenmeier suddenly addressed her by it, and the lady was at this moment entering the room.

“Frau Sesemann will no doubt agree with me,” she interrupted, “that it was necessary to choose a name that could be pronounced easily, if only for the sake of the servants.”

“My worthy Rottenmeier,” replied Frau Sesemann, “if a person is called ‘Heidi’ and has grown accustomed to that name, I call her by the same, and so let it be.”

Fräulein Rottenmeier was always very much annoyed that the old lady continually addressed her by her surname only; but it was no use minding, for the grandmother always went her own way, and so there was no help for it. Moreover the grandmother was a keen old lady, and had all her five wits about her, and she knew what was going on in the house as soon as she entered it.

When on the following day Clara lay down as usual on her couch after dinner, the grandmother sat down beside her for a few minutes and closed her eyes, then she got up again as lively as ever, and trotted off into the dining-room. No one was there. “She is asleep, I suppose,” she said to herself, and then going up to Fräulein Rottenmeier’s room she gave a loud knock at the door. She waited a few minutes and then Fräulein Rottenmeier opened the door and drew back in surprise at this unexpected visit.