Stranica 41 [41]
OF TEARS. 25
of a mouse—to a mouse—a mouse—O mouse!”
. The Mouse looked at her rather inguisitively, and
seemed to her to wink with one of its little
_eyes, but it said nothing.
“Perhaps it doesn’t understand English,”
thought Alice; “I daresay it’s a French mouse,
come over with William the Conqueror.” (For,
with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no
very clear notion how long ago anything had
happened.) So she began again: “Ou est ma
chatte?” which was the first sentence in her
French lesson-book. The Mouse gave a sudden
leap out of the water, and seemed to quiver
all over with fright. “Oh, I beg your pardon!”
eried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the
poor animal’s feelings. “I quite forgot you didn’t
like cats.”
“Not like cats!” cried the Mouse, in a shrill,
passionate voice. “ Would yow like cats if you
Were me?”
“Well, perhaps not,” said Alice in a sooth¬
ing tone: “don't be angry about it. And yet
E