“I suppose it might be worth trying,” Alice remarked, “if we can get them on. They look very tiny,” and she held hers up. They looked exactly as though they had been made for a doll, and the three girls burst out laughing.
“Talk about wearing shoes too small for you,” Rose gurgled, examining her own bits of slippers. “But there’s nothing like trying.”
They sat down carefully, so as not to crush any more shrubbery than possible, for they had left the meadow behind them and were on a sparsely wooded hillside. And wonderful to say, as soon as they began to put on the tiny shoes and stockings their feet shrank to the proper size and they too. So in a minute or two they were all little girls again, and they started merrily down the hill in the direction where the village lay.
“You know, it’s awfully handy to be able to grow up like that just by taking off your shoes and stockings,” said Rose. “Just think, if you want to talk with some one upstairs when you’re playing outdoors, all you need to do is to pull them off, and then lean in at the window. How surprised people would be for a while, till they got used to it.”
At this moment there was a rustle in the bushes beside the path the girls were following, and the White Rabbit stepped out.
“How do you do, Alice? Are these little girls friends?”
“Oh, yes. This is Ruth and this is Rose, Mr. Rabbit.”
“I’m glad you did that. So many people hyphen me,” said the White Rabbit, in a pleased voice.
“Hyphen you?”
“Yes, and it’s an affectation I can’t abide. Very nice little girls, I’m sure.” Here, to the delight of Rose and Ruth, he pulled out his watch and gave it an anxious look. “Bless my stars!” he exclaimed, “I’m going to be late again.”