But Alice only began to whimper.
"I promised Mamma," she said, "that I should be home at five o'clock."
"Selfish!" said the Red Knight.
"I am not selfish," cried Alice. "I promised Mamma I'd come and I want to keep my promise."
"That's what I call selfish," said the Red Knight; "giving somebody your promise and wanting to keep it, too. I'd never be guilty of such conduct. It's like giving somebody your piece of plum pudding and wanting to keep it at the same time."
"But a promise isn't plum pudding," said Alice.
"Of course it isn't," said the Red Knight. "Plum pudding is much harder to swallow."
"Oh, you know well enough what I mean," said Alice, quite out of patience. "It isn't the promise I want to keep; it's what I promised about."
"Oh, in that case, we quite agree," said the Red Knight. "If you give people a promise and keep something else, it's all right." And he began to row harder than ever.