โCuriouser and curiouser!โ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); โnow Iโm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!โ (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off). โOh, my poor little feet, I wonder who will put on your shoes and stockings for you now, dears? Iโm sure I shanโt be able! I shall be a great deal too far off to trouble myself about you: you must manage the best way you can;โbut I must be kind to them,โ thought Alice, โor perhaps they wonโt walk the way I want to go! Let me see: Iโll give them a new pair of boots every Christmas.โ
And she went on planning to herself how she would manage it. โThey must go by the carrier,โ she thought; โand how funny itโll seem, sending presents to oneโs own feet! And how odd the directions will look!
Aliceโs Right Foot, Esq.
Hearthrug,
near The Fender,
(with Aliceโs love).
Oh dear, what nonsense Iโm talking!โ
Just then her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was now more than nine feet high, and she at once took up the little golden key and hurried off to the garden door.
Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again.
โYou ought to be ashamed of yourself,โ said Alice, โa great girl like you,โ (she might well say this), โto go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!โ But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall.
After a time she heard a little pattering of feet in the distance, and she hastily dried her eyes to see what was coming. It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, โOh! the Duchess, the Duchess! Oh! wonโt she be savage if Iโve kept her waiting!โ Alice felt so desperate that she was ready to ask help of any one; so, when the Rabbit came near her, she began, in a low, timid voice, โIf you please, sirโโ The Rabbit started violently, dropped the white kid gloves and the fan, and skurried away into the darkness as hard as he could go.
