I suppose-- RED QUEEN [_Answers for her._] Bread and butter, of course. Try another subtraction sum. Take a bone from a dog; what remains? ALICE The bone wouldn't remain, of course, if I took it--and the dog wouldn't remain; it would come to bite me--and I'm sure I shouldn't remain. RED QUEEN Then you think nothing would remain? ALICE I think that's the answer. RED QUEEN Wrong as usual; the dog's temper would remain. ALICE But I don't see how-- RED QUEEN Why, look here; the dog would lose its temper, wouldn't it? ALICE Perhaps it would. RED QUEEN Then if the dog went away, its temper would remain! ALICE They might go different ways! What dreadful nonsense we _are_ talking. BOTH QUEENS She can't do sums a bit! ALICE Can _you_ do sums? WHITE QUEEN I can do addition, if you give me time--but I can't do _subtraction_ under _any_ circumstances. RED QUEEN Of course you know your A, B, C? ALICE To be sure I do. WHITE QUEEN So do I; we'll often say it over together, dear. And I'll tell you a secret--I can read words of one letter. Isn't that grand? However, don't be discouraged. You'll come to it in time. RED QUEEN Can you answer useful questions? How is bread made? ALICE I know _that_! You take some flour-- WHITE QUEEN Where do you pick the flower? In a garden or in the hedges? ALICE Well, it isn't _picked_ at all. It's ground-- WHITE QUEEN How many acres of ground? You mustn't leave out so many things. RED QUEEN Fan her head! She'll be feverish after so much thinking. [_They fan her with bunches of leaves which blow her hair wildly._] ALICE Please--please-- RED QUEEN She's all right again now. Do you know languages? What's the French for fiddle-de-dee? ALICE Fiddle-de-dee's not English. RED QUEEN Who ever said it was? ALICE If you tell me what language fiddle-de-dee is, I'll tell you the French for it! RED QUEEN Queens never make bargains! ALICE I wish Queens never asked questions! WHITE QUEEN Don't let us quarrel; what is the cause of lightning? ALICE The cause of lightning is the thunder--no, no! I meant the other way. RED QUEEN It's too late to correct it; when you've once said a thing, that fixes it, and you must take the consequences. WHITE QUEEN We had _such_ a thunderstorm next Tuesday, you can't think. RED QUEEN She _never_ could, you know. WHITE QUEEN Part of the roof came off, and ever so much thunder got in--and it went rolling round the room in great lumps--and knocking over the tables and things--till I was so frightened, I couldn't remember my own name! ALICE I never should _try_ to remember my name in the middle of an accident. Where would be the use of it? RED QUEEN