“I’m sure those are not the right words,"
said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears
again as she went on, “I must be Mabel after
all, and | shall have to go and live in that
poky little house, and have next to no toys to
play with, and oh! ever so many lessons to
learn! No, I’ve made up my mind about it;
if I’m Mabel, I'll stay dewn here! It'll be no
use their putting their heads down and saying
‘Come up again, dear!’ I shall only look up
and say ‘Who am I then? Tell me that first,
and then, if I like being that person, I'll come
up: if not, I'll stay down here till I’m some¬
body else’-—but, oh dear!” cried Alice, with a
sudden burst of tears, “I do wish they would
put their heads down! I| am so very tired of
being all alone here !”
As she said this she looked down at her
hands, and was surprised to see that she had
put on one of the Rabbit's little white kid gloves
while she was talking. “ How can I have done
that?” she thought. “I must be growing small