The
King and the Queen and the sol-dier who had come with the axe, to cut
off the Cat's head, were all talking at once, while all the rest stood
with closed lips and looked quite grave.
As soon as they saw Al-ice, they want-ed her to say which one was right,
but as all three spoke at once, she found it hard to make out what they
said.
[Illustration]
The sol-dier said that you couldn't cut off a head unless there was a
bod-y to cut it off from; that he had nev-er had to do such a thing, and
he wouldn't be-gin it now, at his time of life.
The King said that all heads could be cut off, and that you weren't to
talk non-sense.
The Queen said, if some-thing wasn't done in less than no time, heads
should come off all round. (It was this last threat that had made the
whole crowd look so grave as Al-ice came up.)
Al-ice could think of nothing else to say but, "Ask the Duch-ess, it is
her Cat."
"Fetch her here," the Queen said to the sol-dier, and he went off like
an ar-row.
The Cat's head start-ed to fade out of sight as soon as he was gone, and
by the time he had come back with the Duch-ess, it could not be seen at
all; so the King and the man ran up and down look-ing for it, while the
rest went back to the game.
CHAPTER IX.
THE MOCK TUR-TLE.
"You can't think how glad I am to see you once more, you dear old
thing!" said the Duch-ess as she took Al-ice's arm, and they walked off
side by side.
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