CHAPTER VI.
PIG AND PEP-PER.
For a while Al-ice stood and looked at the house and tried to think what
to do next, when a foot-man ran out of the wood (from the way he was
dressed, she took him to be a foot-man; though if she had judged by his
face she would have called him a fish) and knocked at the door with his
fist. A foot-man with a round face and large eyes, came to the door.
Al-ice want-ed to know what it all meant, so she crept a short way out
of the wood to hear what they said.
[Illustration]
The Fish-Foot-man took from un-der his arm a great let-ter and hand-ed
it to the oth-er and said in a grave tone "For the Duch-ess; from the
Queen." The Frog-Foot-man said in the same grave tone, "From the Queen,
for the Duch-ess." Then they both bowed so low that their heads touched
each oth-er.
All this made Al-ice laugh so much that she had to run back to the wood
for fear they would hear her, and when she next peeped out the
Fish-Foot-man was gone, and the oth-er sat on the ground near the door
and stared up at the sky.
Al-ice went up to the door and knocked.
"There's no sort of use for you to knock," said the Foot-man, "I'm on
the same side of the door that you are, and there is so much noise in
the room that no one could hear you." There was, in-deed, a great noise
in the house--a howl-ing and sneez-ing, with now and then a great crash,
as if a dish or a pot had been bro-ken to piec-es.
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