Alices Adventures Under Ground | Page 7

sad?" and she went on puzzling about this as the mouse
went on speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this:
We lived beneath the mat Warm and snug and fat But one woe, & that
Was the cat! To our joys a clog, In our eyes a fog, On our hearts a log
Was the dog! When the cat's away, Then the mice will play, But, alas!
one day, (So they say) Came the dog and cat, Hunting for a rat,
Crushed the mice all flat; Each one as he sat. U n d e r n e a t h
t h e

m a t , m r a W g u n s & t a f & T h i n k? o f t h a t!
"You are not attending!" said the mouse to Alice severely, "what are
you thinking of?"
"I beg your pardon," said Alice very humbly, "you had got to the fifth
bend, I think?"
"I had not!" cried the mouse, sharply and very angrily.
"A knot!" said Alice, always ready to make herself useful, and looking
anxiously about her, "oh, do let me help to undo it!"
"I shall do nothing of the sort!" said the mouse, getting up and walking
away from the party, "you insult me by talking such nonsense!"
"I didn't mean it!" pleaded poor Alice, "but you're so easily offended,
you know."
The mouse only growled in reply.
"Please come back and finish your story!" Alice called after it, and the
others all joined in chorus "yes, please do!" but the mouse only shook
its ears, and walked quickly away, and was soon out of sight.
"What a pity it wouldn't stay!" sighed the Lory, and an old Crab took
the opportunity of saying to its daughter "Ah, my dear! let this be a
lesson to you never to lose your temper!" "Hold your tongue, Ma!" said
the young Crab, a little snappishly, "you're enough to try the patience
of an oyster!"
"I wish I had our Dinah here, I know I do!" said Alice aloud,
addressing no one in particular, "she'd soon fetch it back!"
"And who is Dinah, if I might venture to ask the question?" said the
Lory.
[Illustration]

Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her pet,
"Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching mice, you
can't think! And oh! I wish you could see her after the birds! Why,
she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!"
This answer caused a remarkable sensation among the party: some of
the birds hurried off at once; one old magpie began wrapping itself up
very carefully, remarking "I really must be getting home: the night air
does not suit my throat," and a canary called out in a trembling voice to
its children "come away from her, my dears, she's no fit company for
you!" On various pretexts, they all moved off, and Alice was soon left
alone.
[Illustration]
She sat for some while sorrowful and silent, but she was not long
before she recovered her spirits, and began talking to herself again as
usual: "I do wish some of them had stayed a little longer! and I was
getting to be such friends with them--really the Lory and I were almost
like sisters! and so was that dear little Eaglet! And then the Duck and
the Dodo! How nicely the Duck sang to us as we came along through
the water: and if the Dodo hadn't known the way to that nice little
cottage, I don't know when we should have got dry again--" and there is
no knowing how long she might have prattled on in this way, if she had
not suddenly caught the sound of pattering feet.
It was the white rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking
anxiously about it as it went, as if it had lost something, and she heard
it muttering to itself "the Marchioness! the Marchioness! oh my dear
paws! oh my fur and whiskers! She'll have me executed, as sure as
ferrets are ferrets! Where can I have dropped them, I wonder?" Alice
guessed in a moment that it was looking for the nosegay and the pair of
white kid gloves, and she began hunting for them, but they were now
nowhere to be seen--everything seemed to have changed since her
swim in the pool, and her walk along the river-bank with its fringe of
rushes and forget-me-nots, and the glass table and the little door had
vanished.

Soon the rabbit noticed Alice, as she stood looking curiously about her,
and at once said in a quick angry tone, "why, Mary Ann! what are you
doing out here? Go home this