Chapter 2
The Pool of Tears
2-8 A Nice Soft Thing
Alice:
Well, perhaps not,
said Alice in a soothing tone:
don’t be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you’d take a fancy to cats if you could only see her.
Alice:
She is such a dear quiet thing,
Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool,
and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face—and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse—
Alice:
and she’s such a capital one for catching mice—oh, I beg your pardon!
cried Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended.
Alice:
We won’t talk about her any more if you’d rather not.
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Mouse:
We indeed!
cried the Mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his tail.
Mouse:
As if I would talk on such a subject! Our family always hated cats: nasty, low, vulgar things! Don’t let me hear the name again!