Heidi by Johanna Spyri

CHAPTER VII. FRAULEIN ROTTENMEIER SPENDS AN UNCOMFORTABLE DAY

When Heidi opened her eyes on her first morning in Frankfurt she could not think where  she was. Then she rubbed them and looked about her. She was sitting up in a high white  bed, on one side of a large, wide room, into which the light was falling through very, very  long white curtains; near the window stood two chairs covered with large flowers, and then  came a sofa with the same flowers, in front of which was a round table; in the corner was  a washstand, with things upon it that Heidi had never seen in her life before. But now all at once she remembered that she was in Frankfurt; everything that had happened the day  before came back to her, and finally she recalled clearly the instructions that had been  given her by the lady-housekeeper, as far as she had heard them. Heidi jumped out of  bed and dressed herself; then she ran first to one window and then another; she wanted  to see the sky and country outside; she felt like a bird in a cage behind those great  curtains. But they were too heavy for her to put aside, so she crept underneath them to  get to the window. But these again were so high that she could only just get her head  above the sill to peer out. Even then she could not see what she longed for. In vain she  went first to one and then the other of the windows—she could see nothing but walls and  windows and again walls and windows. Heidi felt quite frightened. It was still early, for  Heidi was accustomed to get up early and run out at once to see how everything was  looking, if the sky was blue and if the sun was already above the mountains, or if the fir  trees were waving and the flowers had opened their eyes. As a bird, when it first finds  itself in its bright new cage, darts hither and thither, trying the bars in turn to see if it  cannot get through them and fly again into the open, so Heidi continued to run backwards  and forwards, trying to open first one and then the other of the windows, for she felt she  could not bear to see nothing but walls and windows, and somewhere outside there must  be the green grass, and the last unmelted snows on the mountain slopes, which Heidi so  longed to see. But the windows remained immovable, try what Heidi would to open them,  even endeavoring to push her little fingers under them to lift them up; but it was all no use.  When after a while Heidi saw that her efforts were fruitless, she gave up trying, and began  to think whether she would not go out and round the house till she came to the grass, but  then she remembered that the night before she had only seen stones in front of the house.  At that moment a knock came to the door, and immediately after Tinette put her head  inside and said, "Breakfast is ready." Heidi had no idea what an invitation so worded  meant, and Tinette's face did not encourage any questioning on Heidi's part, but rather the  reverse. Heidi was sharp enough to read its expression, and acted accordingly. So she  drew the little stool out from under the table, put it in the corner and sat down upon it, and  there silently awaited what would happen next. Shortly after, with a good deal of rustling  and bustling Fraulein Rottenmeier appeared, who again seemed very much put out and  called to Heidi, "What is the matter with you, Adelheid? Don't you understand what  breakfast is? Come along at once!" 

Heidi had no difficulty in understanding now and followed at once. Clara had been some  time at the breakfast table and she gave Heidi a kindly greeting, her face looking  considerably more cheerful than usual, for she looked forward to all kinds of new things  happening again that day. Breakfast passed off quietly;

Heidi eat her bread and butter in a perfectly correct manner, and when the meal was over  and Clara wheeled back into the study, Fraulein Rottenmeier told her to follow and remain  with Clara until the tutor should arrive and lessons begin.

As soon as the children were alone again, Heidi asked, "How can one see out from here,  and look right down on to the ground?"

"You must open the window and look out," replied Clara amused.

"But the windows won't open," responded Heidi sadly.

"Yes, they will," Clara assured her. "You cannot open them, nor I either, but when you see  Sebastian you can ask him to open one."