"There's too much pep-per in that soup!" Al-ice said to her-self as well
as she could for sneez-ing. There was too much of it in the air, for the
Duch-ess sneezed now and then; and as for the child, it sneezed and
howled all the time.
A large cat sat on the hearth grin-ning from ear to ear.
"Please, would you tell me," said Al-ice, not quite sure that it was
right for her to speak first, "why your cat grins like that?"
"It's a Che-shire cat," said the Duch-ess, "and that's why. Pig!"
She said the last word so loud that Al-ice jumped; but she soon saw that
the Duch-ess spoke to the child and not to her, so she went on:
"I didn't know that Che-shire cats grinned; in fact, I didn't know that
cats could grin."
"They all can," said the Duch-ess; "and most of 'em do."
"I don't know of an-y that do," Al-ice said, quite pleased to have some
one to talk with.
"You don't know much," said the Duch-ess; "and that's a fact."
Al-ice did not at all like the tone in which this was said, and thought
it would be as well to speak of some-thing else. While she tried to
think of what to say, the cook took the pot from the fire, and at once
set to work throw-ing things at the Duch-ess and the child--the tongs
came first, then pots, pans, plates and cups flew thick and fast through
the air. The Duch-ess did not seem to see them, e-ven when they hit her;
and the child had howled so loud all the while, that one could not tell
if the blows hurt it or not.
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