“It’s better than wasting shoes,” the White Knight objected. “There’s so much more of it, you know.”
“Do tell us,” Alice put in hastily, “have you invented anything new lately?”
A gratified look passed over the Knight’s gentle face.
“Yes,” he answered. “I’ve been working on it a long, long time—that’s why I know there’s so much, you see—and now it’s all done but the making. I haven’t quite decided how to make it yet.”
“But isn’t that the most important part?” asked Rose.
“Well, of course, it has its importance,” the Knight replied, looking vexed, “but after all the inventing is the main thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’m sure it is,” Alice agreed, and then she whispered to Rose, “One can’t argue with him at all, he doesn’t understand it. And he gets so troubled, poor old thing.”
Rose nodded, smiling. “Could you tell us just what the invention is?” she went on, turning to the Knight.
“Well, perhaps not just what it is,” he said. “But I might tell you about what it’s for.”
Rose began to feel bewildered.