o you play croquet with the Queen today?” “I should like it very much,” said Alice, “but I haven't been invited yet.”
“You'll see me there,” said the Cat, & vanished.
Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, it suddenly appeared again.
“By-the-bye, what became of the baby?” said the Cat. “I'd nearly forgotten to ask.” “It turned into a pig,” Alice answered very quietly, just as if the Cat had come back in a natural way.
“I thought it would,” said the Cat, & vanished again.
Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again, but it did not appear, and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in which the March Hare was said to live. “I've seen hatters before,” she said to herself:” the March Hare will be much the most interesting, & perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad — at least not so mad as it was in March.”
As she said this, she looked up, & there was the Cat again, sitting on a branch of a tree.
“Did you say pig, or fig?” said the Cat. “I said pig,” replied Alice; “ & I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.”
“All right,” said the Cat; & this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
“Well ! I've often seen a cat without a grin,” thought Alice; “but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!”