Page:Heidi - Spyri - 1922.djvu/179

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ANOTHER GRANDMOTHER

“I used to say prayers with the first grandmother, but that is a long time ago, and I have forgotten them.”

“That is the reason, Heidi, that you are so unhappy, because you know no one who can help you. Think what a comfort it is when the heart is heavy with grief to be able at any moment to go and tell everything to God, and pray Him for the help that no one else can give us. And He can help us and give us everything that will make us happy again.”

A sudden gleam of joy came into Heidi’s eyes. “May I tell Him everything, everything?”

“Yes, everything, Heidi, everything.”

Heidi drew her hand away, which the grandmother was holding affectionately between her own, and said quickly, “May I go?”

“Yes, of course,” was the answer, and Heidi ran out of the room into her own, and sitting herself on a stool, folded her hands together and told God about everything that was making her so sad and unhappy, and begged Him earnestly to help her and to let her go home to her grandfather.

It was about a week after this that the tutor asked Frau Sesemann’s permission for an interview with her, as he wished to inform her of a remarkable thing that had come to pass. So she invited him to her room, and as he entered she held out her hand in greeting, and pushed a chair towards him. “I am pleased to see you,” she said, “pray sit down and tell me what brings you here; nothing bad, no complaints, I hope?”

“Quite the reverse,” began the tutor. “Something has happened that I had given up hoping for, and which no one, knowing what has gone before, could have guessed, for, according to

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