han 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.

Al-ice was glad to see her in such a fine mood, and thought to her-self
that the Duch-ess might not be so bad as she had seemed to be when they
first met.

Then Al-ice fell in-to a long train of thought as to what she would do
if she were a Duch-ess.

She quite lost sight of the Duch-ess by her side, and was star-tled when
she heard her voice close to her ear.

"You have some-thing on your mind, my dear, and that makes you for-get
to talk. I can't tell you just now what the mor-al of that is, but I
shall think of it in a bit."

"Are you sure it has one?" asked Al-ice.

"Tut, tut, child!" said the Duch-ess; "all things have a mor-al if you
can but find it." And she squeezed up close to Al-ice's side as she
spoke.

Al-ice did not much like to have the Duch-ess keep so close, but she
didn't like to be rude, so she bore it as well as she could.

"The game is not so bad now," Al-ice said, think-ing she ought to fill
in the time with talk of some kind.

"'Tis so," said the Duch-ess, "and the mor-al of that is--'Oh, 'tis
love, 'tis love, that makes the world go round!'"

"Some one said, it's done by each one mind-ing his own work," said
Al-ice.

"Ah! well, it means much the same thing," said the Duch-ess, then
add-ed, "and the mor-al of that is--'Take care of the sense and the
sounds will take care of themselves.'"

[Illustration]

"How she likes to find mor-als in things," said Al-ice.

"Why don't you talk more and not think so long?" asked the Duch-ess.

"I've a right to think," said Al-ice in a sharp tone, for she was tired
and vexed.

"Just as much right," said the Duch-ess, "as pigs have to fly; and the
mor--"

But here the voice of the Duch-ess died out in the