That would never do, I m sure, said Alice: the governess would never
think of excusing me lessons for that. If she couldn t remember my
name, she d call me Miss! as the servants do.
Well, if she said Miss, and didn t say anything more, the Gnat
remarked, of course you d miss your lessons. That s a joke. I wish
_you_ had made it.
Why do you wish _I_ had made it? Alice asked. It s a very bad one.
But the Gnat only sighed deeply, while two large tears came rolling
down its cheeks.
You shouldn t make jokes, Alice said, if it makes you so unhappy.
Then came another of those melancholy little sighs, and this time the
poor Gnat really seemed to have sighed itself away, for, when Alice
looked up, there was nothing whatever to be seen on the twig, and, as
she was getting quite chilly with sitting still so long, she got up and
walked on.
She very soon came to an open field, with a wood on the other side of
it: it looked much darker than the last wood, and Alice felt a _little_
timid about going into it. However, on second thoughts, she made up her
mind to go on: for I certainly won t go _back_, she thought to
herself, and this was the only way to the Eighth Square.
This must be the wood, she said thoughtfully to herself, where
things have no names. I wonder what ll become of _my_ name when I go
in? I shouldn t like to lose it at all because they d have to give me
another, and it would be almost certain to be an ugly one. But then the
fun would be trying to find the creature that had got my old name!
That s just like the advertisements, you know, when people lose
dogs _answers to the name of Dash: had on a brass collar_ just
fancy calling everything you met Alice, till one of them answered!
Only they wouldn t answer at all, if they were wise.
She was rambling on in this way when she reached the wood: it looked
very cool and shady. Well, at any rate it s a great comfort, she said
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