Heidi Page 14

  CHAPTER XII

  "MY HOUSE IS HAUNTED"

  For some days past Miss Rottermeyer had gone about rather silentlyand as if lost in thought. As twilight fell, and she passed from roomto room, or along the long corridors, she was seen to look cautiouslybehind her, and into the dark corners, as if she thought some one wascoming up silently behind her and might unexpectedly give her dress apull. Nor would she now go alone into some parts of the house. If shevisited the upper floor where the grand guest-chambers were, or had togo down into the large drawing room, where every footstep echoed, shecalled Tinette to accompany her.

  For something very strange and mysterious was going on in Mr.Sesemann's house. Every morning, when the servants went downstairs,they found the front door wide open, although nobody could be seen faror near to account for it. During the first few days that this happenedevery room and corner was searched in great alarm, to see if anythinghad been stolen, for the general idea was that a thief had been hidingin the house and had gone off in the night with the stolen goods; butnot a thing in the house had been touched, everything was safe in itsplace. The door was doubly locked at night, and for further securitythe wooden bar was fastened across it; but it was no good--next morningthe door again stood open. At last, after a great deal of persuasionfrom Miss Rottermeyer, Sebastian and John plucked up courage andagreed to sit up one night to watch and see what would happen. MissRottermeyer hunted up several weapons belonging to the master, andgave these and a bottle of brandy to them so that their courage mightnot faint if it came to a fight.

  On the appointed night the two sat down and began at once to take someof the strengthening cordial, which at first made them very talkativeand then very sleepy, so that they leant back in their seats and becamesilent. As midnight struck, Sebastian roused himself and called to hiscompanion, who, however, was not easy to wake, and kept rolling hishead first to one side and then the other and continuing to sleep.Sebastian began to listen more attentively, for he was wide awake now.He did not feel inclined to go to sleep again, for the stillness wasghostly to him, and he was afraid now to raise his voice to rouse John,so he shook him gently to make him stir. At last, as one struck, Johnwoke up, and came back to the consciousness of why he was sitting ina chair instead of lying in his bed. He got up with a great show ofcourage and said, "Come, Sebastian, we must go out in the hall and seewhat is going on; you need not be afraid, just follow me."

  Whereupon he opened the door wide and stepped into the hall. Just ashe did so a sudden gust of air blew through the open front door andput out the light which John held in his hand. He started back, almostoverturning Sebastian, whom he clutched and pulled back into the room,and then shutting the door quickly he turned the key as far as he couldmake it go. Then he pulled out his matches and lighted his candleagain. Sebastian, in the suddenness of the affair, did not know exactlywhat had happened, for he had not seen the open front door or felt thebreeze behind John's broad figure. But now, as he saw the latter in thelight, he gave a cry of alarm, for John was trembling all over and wasas white as a ghost. "What's the matter? What did you see outside?"asked Sebastian sympathetically.

  "The door partly open," gasped John, "and a white figure standing atthe top of the steps--there it stood, and then all in a minute itdisappeared."

  Sebastian felt his blood run cold. The two sat down close to oneanother and did not dare move again till the morning broke and thestreets began to be alive again. Then they left the room together,shut the front door, and went upstairs to tell Miss Rottermeyer oftheir experience. They had no sooner given her details of the night'sexperience than she sat down and wrote to Mr. Sesemann, who had neverreceived such a letter before in his life. She could hardly write, shetold him, for her fingers were stiff with fear, and Mr. Sesemann mustplease arrange to come back at once, for dreadful and unaccountablethings were taking place at home. Then she entered into particulars ofall that had happened, of how the door was found standing open everymorning.

  Mr. Sesemann answered that it was quite impossible for him to arrangeto leave his business and return home at once.

  Miss Rottermeyer, however, was determined not to pass any more daysin a state of fear, and she knew the right course to pursue. She hadas yet said nothing to the children of the ghostly apparitions, forshe knew if she did that the children would not remain alone for asingle moment, and that might entail discomfort for herself. But nowshe walked straight off into the study, and there in a low, mysteriousvoice told the two children everything that had taken place. Claraimmediately screamed out that she could not remain another minutealone, her father must come home.

  So Miss Rottermeyer wrote another letter to Mr. Sesemann, statingthat these unaccountable things that were going on in the house hadso affected his daughter's delicate constitution that the worstconsequences might be expected. Epileptic fits and St. Vitus's danceoften came on suddenly in cases like this, and Clara was liable to beattacked by either if the cause of the general alarm was not removed.

  The letter was successful, and two days later Mr. Sesemann arrived home.

  Clara greeted him with a cry of joy, and seeing her so lively andapparently as well as ever, his face cleared, and the frown of anxietypassed gradually away from it as he heard from his daughter's own lipsthat she had nothing the matter with her, and moreover was so delightedto see him that she was quite glad about the ghost, as it was the causeof bringing him home again.

  "And how is the ghost getting on?" he asked, turning to MissRottermeyer, with a twinkle of amusement in his eye.

  "It is no joke, I assure you," replied that lady. "You will not laughyourself tomorrow morning, Mr. Sesemann; what is going on in the housepoints to some terrible thing that has taken place in the past and beenconcealed."

  "Well, I know nothing about that," said the master of the house, "butI must beg you not to bring suspicion on my worthy ancestors. And nowwill you kindly call Sebastian into the dining-room, as I wish to speakto him alone."

  Mr. Sesemann had been quite aware that Sebastian and Miss Rottermeyerwere not on the best of terms, and he had his ideas about this scare.

  "Come here, lad," he said as Sebastian appeared, "and tell mefrankly--have you been playing at ghosts to amuse yourself at MissRottermeyer's expense?"

  "No, on my honor, sir; pray, do not think it; I am very uncomfortableabout the matter myself," answered Sebastian with unmistakabletruthfulness.

  "Well, if that is so, I will show you and John tomorrow morning howghosts look in the daylight. You ought to be ashamed of yourself,Sebastian, a great strong lad like you, to run away from a ghost! Butnow go and take a message to my old friend the doctor: give him my kindregards, and ask if he will come to me tonight at nine o'clock withoutfail; I have come by express from Paris to consult him. I shall wanthim to spend the night here, so bad a case is it; so will he arrangeaccordingly. You understand?"

  "Yes, sir," replied Sebastian, "I will see to the matter as you wish."

  Punctually at nine o'clock, after the children and Miss Rottermeyerhad retired, the doctor arrived. He was a grey-haired man with a freshface, and two bright, kindly eyes. He looked anxious as he walked in,but, on catching sight of his patient, burst out laughing and clappedhim on the shoulder. "Well," he said, "you look pretty bad for a personthat I am to sit up with all night."

  "Patience, friend," answered Mr. Sesemann, "the one you have to sit upfor will look a good deal worse when we have once caught him, for thereis a ghost in the house!"

  The doctor laughed again.

  "That's a nice way of showing sympathy, doctor!" continued Mr.Sesemann. "It's a pity my friend Rottermeyer cannot hear you. She isfirmly convinced that some old member of the family is wandering aboutthe house doing penance for some awful crime he committed."

  "How did she become acquainted with him?" asked the doctor, still verymuch amused.

  So Mr. Sesemann recounted to him how the front door was nightly openedby somebody, according to the testimony of the combined household. The
whole thing was either a joke gotten up by some friend of the servants,just to alarm the household while he was away or else it was a thief,who, by leading everybody at first to think there was a ghost, made itsafe for himself when he came later to steal, as no one would ventureto run out if they heard him.

  The two took up their quarters for the night in the same room in whichSebastian and John had kept watch. The door was shut close to preventthe light being seen in the hall outside, which might frighten away theghost. The gentlemen sat comfortably back in the arm-chairs and begantalking of all sorts of things, now and then pausing to take a gooddraught of wine, and so twelve o'clock struck before they were aware.

  "The ghost has got scent of us and is keeping away tonight," said thedoctor.

  "Wait a bit, it does not generally appear before one o'clock," answeredhis friend.

  They started talking again. One o'clock struck. There was not a soundabout the house, nor in the street outside. Suddenly the doctor liftedhis finger.

  "Hush! Sesemann, don't you hear something?"

  They both listened, and they distinctly heard the bar softly pushedaside and then the key turned in the lock and the door opened. Mr.Sesemann put out his hand for his revolver.

  "You are not afraid, are you?" said the doctor as he stood up.

  "It is better to take precautions," whispered Mr. Sesemann, and seizingone of the lights in his other hand, he followed the doctor, who, armedin like manner with a light and a revolver, went softly on in front.They stepped into the hall. The moonlight was shining in through theopen door and fell on a white figure standing motionless in the doorway.

  "Who is there?" thundered the doctor in a voice that echoed throughthe hall, as the two men advanced with lights and weapons towards thefigure.

  It turned and gave a low cry. There in her little white nightgown stoodHeidi, with bare feet, staring with wild eyes at the lights and therevolvers, and trembling from head to foot like a leaf in the wind. Thetwo men looked at one another in surprise.

  "Why, I believe it is Heidi," said the doctor.

  "Child, what does this mean?" said Mr. Sesemann. "What did you want?why did you come down here?"

  White with terror, and hardly able to make her voice heard, Heidianswered, "I don't know."

  But now the doctor stepped forward. "This is a matter for me to see to,Sesemann; go back to your chair. I must take the child upstairs to herbed."

  And with that he put down his revolver and gently taking the child bythe hand led her upstairs. "Don't be frightened," he said as they wentup side by side, "it's nothing to be frightened about; it's all right,only just go quietly."

  On reaching Heidi's room the doctor put the candle down on the table,and taking Heidi up in his arms laid her on the bed and carefullycovered her over. Then he sat down beside her and waited until she hadgrown quieter and no longer trembled so violently. He then took herhand and said in a kind, soothing voice, "There, now you feel better,and now tell me where you were wanting to go to?"

  "I did not want to go anywhere," said Heidi. "I did not know I wentdownstairs, but all at once I was there."

  "I see, and had you been dreaming, so that you seemed to see and hearsomething very distinctly?"

  THE DOCTOR DISCOVERS HEIDI'S HOME-SICKNESS]

  "Yes, I dream every night, and always about the same things. I thinkI am back with grandfather, and I hear the sound in the fir treesoutside, and I see the stars shining so brightly, and then I open thedoor quickly and run out, and it is all so beautiful! But when I wake Iam still in Frankfurt." And Heidi struggled as she spoke to keep backthe sobs which seemed to choke her.

  "And have you no pain anywhere? no pain in your head or back?"

  "No, only a feeling as if there were a great stone weighing on me here."

  "As if you had eaten something that would not go down."

  "No, not like that; something heavy as if I wanted to cry very much."

  "I see, and then do you have a good cry?"

  "Oh, no, I mustn't; Miss Rottermeyer forbade me to cry."

  "So you swallow it all down, I suppose? Are you happy here inFrankfurt?"

  "Yes," was the low answer; but it sounded more like "No."

  "And where did you live with your grandfather?"

  "Up on the mountain."

  "That wasn't very amusing; rather dull at times, eh?"

  "No, no, it was beautiful, beautiful!" Heidi could go no further; theremembrance of the past, the excitement she had just gone through, thelong suppressed weeping, were too much for the child's strength; thetears began to fall fast, and she broke into violent weeping.

  The doctor patted her head kindly. "There, there, go on crying, it willdo you good, and then go to sleep: it will be all right tomorrow."

  Then he left the room and went downstairs to Mr. Sesemann; when he wasonce more sitting in the arm-chair opposite his friend, "Sesemann," hesaid, "let me first tell you that your little charge is a sleep-walker;she is the ghost who has nightly opened the front door and put yourhousehold into this fever of alarm. Secondly, the child is consumedwith home-sickness to such an extent that she is nearly a skeletonalready, and soon will be quite one; something must be done at once.There is but one remedy and that is to send her back to her nativemountain air. So tomorrow the child must start for home; there you havemy prescription."

  Mr. Sesemann had risen and now paced up and down the room in thegreatest state of concern.

  "What!" he exclaimed, "the child a sleep-walker and ill! All this hastaken place in my house and no one noticed it! And you mean, doctor,that the child who came here happy and healthy, I am to send back toher grandfather a miserable little skeleton? I can't do it; you cannotdream of my doing such a thing! Take the child in hand, do with herwhat you will, and make her whole and sound, and then she shall gohome; but you must cure her first."

  "Sesemann," replied the doctor, "this illness of the child's is notone to be cured with pills and powders. The child has not a strongconstitution, but if you send her back at once she may recover in themountain air, if not--you would rather she went back ill than not atall?"

  Mr. Sesemann stood still; the doctor's words were a shock to him.

  "If you put it so, doctor, there is assuredly only one way--and that isto send her home at once."