She is such a dear quiet thing , ' Alice went on , half to herself , as she swam lazily about in the pool , ` and she sits purring so nicely by the fire , licking her paws and washing her face -- and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse -- and she 's such a capital one for catching mice -- oh , I beg your pardon ! ' cried Alice again , for this time the Mouse was bristling all over , and she felt certain it must be really offended . ` We wo n't talk about her any more if you 'd rather not . ' ` We indeed ! ' cried the Mouse , who was trembling down to the end of his tail . ` As if I would talk on such a subject ! Our family always HATED cats : nasty , low , vulgar things ! Do n't let me hear the name again ! ' ' I wo n't indeed ! ' said Alice , in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation . ` Are you -- are you fond -- of -- of dogs ? ' The Mouse did not answer , so Alice went on eagerly : ` There is such a nice little dog near our house I should like to show you ! A little bright-eyed terrier , you know , with oh , such long curly brown hair ! And it 'll fetch things when you throw them , and it 'll sit up and beg for its dinner , and all sorts of things -- I ca n't remember half of them -- and it belongs to a farmer , you know , and he says it 's so useful , it 's worth a hundred pounds ! He says it kills all the rats and -- oh dear ! ' cried Alice in a sorrowful tone , ` I 'm afraid I 've offended it again ! ' For the Mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go , and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went . So she called softly after it , ` Mouse dear ! Do come back again , and we wo n't talk about cats or dogs either , if you do n't like them ! ' When the Mouse heard this , it turned round and swam slowly back to her : its face was quite pale -LRB- with passion , Alice thought -RRB- , and it said in a low trembling voice , ` Let us get to the shore , and then I 'll tell you my history , and you 'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs . '
It was high time to go , XXXXX the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it : there were a Duck and a Dodo , a Lory and an Eaglet , and several other curious creatures .
So after as for from if in of on to