Just at this moment the two kittens, racing after each other, jumped up on the table, then to the mantelpiece, and then right through the mirror. “Oh, my, the kittens will be lost,” exclaimed Alice, and there she was, up on the mantelpiece herself, and going through after her pets. Rose and Ruth followed without an instant’s hesitation. As they jumped down on the opposite side, into Looking-Glass Land, they saw Alice running through the door; as she went out she turned and beckoned them. They hastened after her, and gave a little gasp as they found themselves walking hand in hand with her through a green meadow. Nearby a cow looked at them thoughtfully. “Why, I didn’t know there was a cow here,” Rose remarked, surprised. “That’s true,” murmured the cow, in a vexed way, and immediately disappeared. “Dear me, I wonder where she went,” said Alice. “She went to ruminate, if you know where that is,” remarked a voice behind them. They turned and found the Red Queen, looking at them severely. “It isn’t a place, is it?” Ruth ventured. “Well, what sort of thing is it, then?” “Why, I don’t think it’s a thing, either,” Rose put in. “Ridiculous. Must be a thing or a place or a person. I suppose next you’ll say it’s me, or you. But where are your goloshes?” “Goloshes,” the three replied. “Why, you don’t need goloshes unless the ground is wet.” “Where I was brought up, goloshes have nothing to do with the ground,” returned the Red Queen. “They are for you. Just look at your feet!” “It does seem as though they were wet,” Alice said, in a puzzled voice, lifting up first one foot and then the other. Rose and Ruth looked quickly at their own shoes. To their surprise they were sopping wet. “Isn’t that extraordinary,” Rose exclaimed. “Why, I don’t remember that we went through a puddle!” The Red Queen laughed scornfully. “Next time you’ll wear your goloshes, I hope. And now take off your shoes and stockings. Walking barefoot will help you grow.” “Does it?” asked Ruth, as the three little girls sat down and joyfully pulled off their shoes and stockings, for who doesn’t love to walk barefoot in short fine grass! “I don’t see why it should.” “Whys should be asked, not seen,” the Red Queen retorted. “And that reminds me....” With the last word she turned on her pedestal, and jumping about a foot into the air, rapidly glided out of sight. Rose and Ruth and Alice continued their walk across the meadow. The two visitors had lots of questions to ask, and Alice chatted back gleefully. “It is so very nice having you with me,” she said. “I’ve been lonely so much, and I’ve wished so hard that some other little girl would only go through the Looking-Glass or into Wonderland with me. You see, talking things over is half the fun, and now we can talk everything over as we go along—I wonder why the grass looks so far away——” To be sure it did.