It was theWhite Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking anxiously about asit went, as if it had lost something ; and she heard it muttering to itself`The Duchess!  The Duchess ! Oh my dear paws!  Oh my fur andwhiskers!  She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where CAN I have dropped them, I wonder?'  Alice guessed in a momentthat it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, and shevery good-naturedly began hunting about for them, but they were nowhereto be seen--everything seemed to have changed since her
swim in the pool, and the great hall, with the glasstable and the little door, had vanished completely.

        Very soon theRabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, and called out to herin an angry tone, `Why, Mary Ann, what ARE you doing out here?  Runhome this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan!  Quick,now!'  And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once inthe direction it pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it hadmade.

        `He took mefor his housemaid,' she said to herself as she ran. `How surprised he'llbe when he finds out who I am!  But I'd better take him his fan andgloves--that is, if I can find them.' As she said this, she came upon aneat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with thename `W. RABBIT' engraved upon it.  She went in without knocking,and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real MaryAnn, and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and gloves.

        `How queerit seems,' Alice said to herself, `to be going messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinah'll be sending me on messages next!'  And she beganfancying the sort of thing that would happen:  `"Miss Alice! Come here directly, and get ready for your walk!" "Coming in a minute,nurse!  But I've got to see that the mouse doesn't get out." Only I don't think,' Alice went on, `that they'd let Dinah stop in thehouse if it began ordering people about like that!'

        By this timeshe had found her way into a tidy little room with a table in the window,and on it (as she had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs of tiny whitekid gloves:  she took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and wasjust going to leave the room, when her eye fell upon a little bottle thatstood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time with the words`DRINK ME,' but nevertheless she uncorked it and put it to her lips. `I know SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' she said to herself,`whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what this bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for really I'm quite tired ofbeing such a tiny little thing !'

        It did so indeed,and much sooner than she had expected : before she had drunk half the bottle,she found her head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop to saveher neck from being broken.  She hastily put down the bottle, sayingto herself `That's quite enough--I hope I shan't grow any more--As it is,I can't get out at the door--I do wish I hadn't drunk quite so much !'

        Alas! it wastoo late to wish that!  She went on growing, and growing, and verysoon had to kneel down on the floor :  in another minute there wasnot even room for this, and she tried the effect of lying down with oneelbow against the door, and the other arm curled round her head. Still she went on growing, and, as a last resource, she put one arm outof the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to herself `Now Ican do no more, whatever happens.  What WILL become of me ?'

        Luckily forAlice, the little magic bottle had now had its full effect, and she grewno larger:  still it was very uncomfortable, and, as there seemedto be no sort of chance of her ever getting out of the room again, no wondershe felt unhappy.

        `It was muchpleasanter at home,' thought poor Alice, `when one wasn't always growinglarger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and yet--it'srather curious, you know, this sort of life!  I do wonder what CANhave happened to me ! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kindof thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought!  Andwhen I grow up, I'll write one--but I'm grown up now,' she added in a sorrowfultone; `at least there's no room to grow up any more HERE.'

        `But then,'thought Alice, `shall I NEVER get any older than I am now?  That'llbe a comfort, one way--never to be an old woman-- but then--always to havelessons to learn!  Oh, I shouldn't like THAT!'

        `Oh, you foolishAlice!' she answered herself.  `How can you learn lessons in here? Why, there's hardly room for YOU, and no room at all for any lesson-books!'

        And so shewent on, taking first one side and then the other, and making quite a conversationof it altogether; but after a few minutes she heard a voice outside, andstopped to listen.

        `Mary Ann! Mary Ann!' said the voice.  `Fetch me my gloves this moment!' Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs.  Alice knew itwas the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shookthe house, quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times aslarge as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it.

        Presently theRabbit came up to the door, and tried to open it ; but, as the door openedinwards, and Alice's elbow was pressed hard against it, that attempt proveda failure.  Alice heard it say to itself `Then I'll go round and getin at the window.'

        `THAT you won't'thought Alice, and, after waiting till she fancied she heard the Rabbitjust under the window, she suddenly spread out her hand, and made a snatchin the air.  She did not get hold of anything, but she heard a littleshriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass, from which she concludedthat it was just possible it had fallen into a cucumber-frame, or somethingof the sort.

        Next came anangry voice--the Rabbit's--`Pat! Pat!  Where are you ?'  Andthen a voice she had never heard before, `Sure then I'm here !  Diggingfor apples, yer honour !'

        `Digging forapples, indeed!' said the Rabbit angrily.  `Here ! Come and help meout of THIS!'  (Sounds of more broken glass.)

        `Now tell me,Pat, what's that in the window?'

        `Sure, it'san arm, yer honour!'  (He pronounced it `arrum.')

        `An arm, yougoose!   Who ever saw one that size?  Why, it fills thewhole window!'

        `Sure, it does,yer honour:  but it's an arm for all that.'

        `Well, it'sgot no business there, at any rate:  go and take it away!'

        There was along silence after this, and Alice could only hear whispers now and then;such as, `Sure, I don't like it, yer honour, at all, at all!'  `Doas I tell you, you coward!' and at last she spread out her hand again,and made another snatch in
the air.  This time there were TWO little shrieks,and more sounds of broken glass.  `What a number of cucumber-framesthere must be!' thought Alice.  `I wonder what they'll do next! As for pulling me out of the window, I only wish they COULD!  I'msure I don't want to stay in here any longer!'

        She waitedfor some time without hearing anything more:  at last came a rumblingof little cartwheels, and the sound of a good many voices all talking together: she made out the words : `Where's the other ladder?--Why, I hadn't to bringbut one ; Bill's got the other--Bill! fetch it here, lad!--Here, put 'emup at this corner--No, tie 'em together first--they don't reach half highenough yet--Oh! they'll do well enough; don't be particular-- Here, Bill!catch hold of this rope--Will the roof bear?--Mind that loose slate--Oh,it's coming down!  Heads below!' (a loud
crash)--`Now, who did that?--It was Bill, I fancy--Who'sto go down the chimney?--Nay, I shan't! YOU do it!--That I won't, then!--Bill'sto go down--Here, Bill! the master says you're to go down the chimney!'

        `Oh! So Bill'sgot to come down the chimney, has he?' said Alice to herself.  `Shy,they seem to put everything upon Bill ! I wouldn't be in Bill's place fora good deal:  this fireplace is narrow, to be sure; but I THINK Ican kick a little!'

        She drew herfoot as far down the chimney as she could, and waited till she heard alittle animal (she couldn't guess of what sort it was) scratching and scramblingabout in the chimney close above her:  then, saying to herself `Thisis Bill,' she gave one sharp kick, and waited to see what would happennext.

        The first thingshe heard was a general chorus of `There goes Bill!' then the Rabbit'svoice along--`Catch him, you by the hedge!' then silence, and then anotherconfusion of voices--`Hold up his head--Brandy now--Don't choke him--Howwas it, old fellow ? What happened to you ?  Tell us all about it!'

        Last came alittle feeble, squeaking voice, (`That's Bill,' thought Alice,) `Well,I hardly know--No more, thank ye; I'm better now--but I'm a deal too flusteredto tell you--all I know is, something comes at me like a Jack-in-the-box,and up I goes
like a sky-rocket!'

        `So you did,old fellow!' said the others.

        `We must burnthe house down!' said the Rabbit's voice; and Alice called out as loudas she could, `If you do.  I'll set Dinah at you!'

        There was adead silence instantly, and Alice thought to herself, `I wonder what theyWILL do next!  If they had any sense, they'd take the roof off.' After a minute or two, they began moving about again, and Alice heard theRabbit say, `A
barrowful will do, to begin with.'

        `A barrowfulof WHAT?' thought Alice; but she had not long to doubt, for the next momenta shower of little pebbles came rattling in at the window, and some ofthem hit her in the face. `I'll put a stop to this,' she said to herself,and shouted out,
`You'd better not do that again!' which produced anotherdead silence.

        Alice noticedwith some surprise that the pebbles were all turning into little cakesas they lay on the floor, and a bright idea came into her head.  `IfI eat one of these cakes,' she thought, `it's sure to make SOME changein my size; and as it can't possibly make me larger, it must make me smaller,I suppose.'

        So she swallowedone of the cakes, and was delighted to find that she began shrinking directly. As soon as she was small enough to get through the door, she ran out ofthe house, and found quite a crowd of little animals and birds waitingoutside. The poor little Lizard, Bill, was in the middle, being held upby two guinea-pigs, who were giving it something out of a bottle. Theyall made a rush at Alice the moment she appeared; but she ran off as hardas she could, and soon found herself safe in a thick wood.

        `The firstthing I've got to do,' said Alice to herself, as she wandered about inthe wood, `is to grow to my right size again ; and the second thing isto find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.'

        It soundedan excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the onlydifficulty was, that she had not the smallest idea how to set about it;and while she was peering about anxiously among the trees, a little sharpbark just over her head made her look up in a great hurry.

        An enormouspuppy was looking down at her with large round eyes, and feebly stretchingout one paw, trying to touch her. `Poor little thing!' said Alice, in acoaxing tone, and she tried hard to whistle to it; but she was terriblyfrightened all the time at the thought that it might be hungry, in whichcase it would be very likely to eat her up in spite of all her coaxing.

        Hardly knowingwhat she did, she picked up a little bit of stick, and held it out to thepuppy; whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off all its feet at once,with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick, and made believe to worryit ; then Alice
dodged behind a great thistle, to keep herself from beingrun over; and the moment she appeared on the other side, the puppy madeanother rush at the stick, and tumbled head over heels in its hurry toget hold of it; then Alice, thinking it was very like having a game ofplay with a cart-horse, and expecting every moment to be trampled underits feet, ran round the thistle again; then the puppy began a series ofshort charges at the stick, running a very little way forwards each timeand a long
way back, and barking hoarsely all the while, till atlast it sat down a good way off, panting, with its tongue hanging out ofits mouth, and its great eyes half shut.

        This seemedto Alice a good opportunity for making her escape ; so she set off at once,and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and till the puppy'sbark sounded quite faint in the distance.

        `And yet whata dear little puppy it was!' said Alice, as she leant against a buttercupto rest herself, and fanned herself with one of the leaves:  `I shouldhave liked teaching it tricks very much, if--if I'd only been the rightsize to do it!  Oh dear!  I'd nearly forgotten that I've gotto grow up again!  Let me see--how IS it to be managed?  I supposeI ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great question is,what?'

        The great questioncertainly was, what?  Alice looked all round her at the flowers andthe blades of grass, but she did not see anything that looked like theright thing to eat or drink under the circumstances.  There was alarge mushroom growing near her, about the same height as herself; andwhen she had looked under it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, itoccurred to her that she might as well look and see what was on the topof it.

        She stretchedherself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and hereyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar, that was sitting onthe top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and takingnot the smallest notice of her or of anything else.