she ate some of the right hand bit, a-gain and did not dare to go
near the house till she had brought her-self down to nine inch-es high.

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.

"Please, then," said Al-ice, "how am I to get in?"

"There might be some sense in your knock-ing," the Foot-man went on, "if
we were not both on the same side of the door. If you were in the room,
you might knock and I could let you out, you know." He looked up at the
sky all the time he was speak-ing, which Al-ice thought was quite rude.
"But per-haps he can't help it," she thought, "his eyes are so near the
top of his head. Still he might tell me what I ask him--How am I to get
in?" she asked.

"I shall sit here," the Foot-man said, "till to-mor-row--"

Just then the door of the house flew o-pen and a large plate skimmed out
straight at his head; it just grazed his nose and broke on one of the
trees near him. "--or next day, may-be," he went on in the same tone as
if he had not seen the plate.

[Illustration]

"How am I to get in?" Al-ice asked as loud as she cou