that his foolish little head could think
of nothing else: and he was always longing for more, and wondering when
the strange lady would come again and give him some, and what she would
give him, and how much, and whether she would give him more than the
others. And he thought of nothing but lollipops by day, and dreamt of
nothing else by night--and what happened then?

That he began to watch the lady to see where she kept the sweet things:
and began hiding, and sneaking, and following her about, and pretending
to be looking the other way, or going after something else, till he
found out that she kept them in a beautiful mother-of-pearl cabinet away
in a deep crack of the rocks.

And he longed to go to the cabinet, and yet he was afraid; and then he
longed again, and was less afraid; and at last, by continual thinking
about it, he longed so violently that he was not afraid at all. And one
night, when all the other children were asleep, and he could not sleep
for thinking of lollipops, he crept away among the rocks, and got to the
cabinet, and behold! it was open.

But, when he saw all the nice things inside, instead of being delighted,
he was quite frightened, and wished he had never come there. And then
he would only touch them, and he did; and then he would only taste one,
and he did; and then he would only eat one, and he did; and then he
would only eat two, and then three, and so on; and then he was terrified
lest she should come and catch him, and began gobbling them down so fast
that he did not taste them, or have any pleasure in them; and then he
felt sick, and would have only one more; and then only one more again;
and so on till he had eaten them all up.

And all the while, close behind him, stood Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid.

Some people may say, But why did she not keep her cupboard locked? Well,
I know.--It may seem a very strange thing, but she never does keep her
cupboard locked; every one may go and taste for themselves, and fare
accordingly. It is very odd, but so it is; and I am quite sure that she
knows best. Perhaps she wishes people to keep their fingers out of the
fire, by having them burned.

She took off her spectacles, because she did not like to see too much;
and in her pity she arched up her eyebrows into her very hair, and her
eyes grew so wide that they would have taken in all the sorrows of the
world, and filled with great big tears, as they too often do.

But all she said was:

"Ah, you