direction to which he pointed. I shan t be long. You ll wait and wave
your handkerchief when I get to that turn in the road? I think it ll
encourage me, you see.
Of course I ll wait, said Alice: and thank you very much for coming
so far and for the song I liked it very much.
I hope so, the Knight said doubtfully: but you didn t cry so much as
I thought you would.
So they shook hands, and then the Knight rode slowly away into the
forest. It won t take long to see him _off_, I expect, Alice said to
herself, as she stood watching him. There he goes! Right on his head
as usual! However, he gets on again pretty easily that comes of having
so many things hung round the horse So she went on talking to
herself, as she watched the horse walking leisurely along the road, and
the Knight tumbling off, first on one side and then on the other. After
the fourth or fifth tumble he reached the turn, and then she waved her
handkerchief to him, and waited till he was out of sight.
I hope it encouraged him, she said, as she turned to run down the
hill: and now for the last brook, and to be a Queen! How grand it
sounds! A very few steps brought her to the edge of the brook. The
Eighth Square at last! she cried as she bounded across,
* * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * * *
and threw herself down to rest on a lawn as soft as moss, with little
flower-beds dotted about it here and there. Oh, how glad I am to get
here! And what _is_ this on my head? she exclaimed in a tone of
dismay, as she put her hands up to something very heavy, and fitted
tight all round her head.
But how _can_ it have got there without my knowing it? she said to
herself, as she lifted it off, and set it on her lap to make out what
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