In a little while , however , she again heard a little pattering of footsteps in the distance , and she looked up eagerly , half hoping that the Mouse had changed his mind , and was coming back to finish his story . CHAPTER IV . The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill It was the White Rabbit , trotting slowly back again , and looking anxiously about as it went , as if it had lost something ; and she heard it muttering to itself ` The Duchess ! The Duchess ! Oh my dear paws ! Oh my fur and whiskers ! She 'll get me executed , as sure as ferrets are ferrets ! Where CAN I have dropped them , I wonder ? ' Alice guessed in a moment that it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves , and she very good-naturedly began hunting about for them , but they were nowhere to be seen -- everything seemed to have changed since her swim in the pool , and the great hall , with the glass table and the little door , had vanished completely . Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice , as she went hunting about , and called out to her in an angry tone , ` Why , Mary Ann , what ARE you doing out here ? Run home this moment , and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan ! Quick , now ! ' And Alice was so much frightened that she ran off at once in the direction it pointed to , without trying to explain the mistake it had made . ` He took me for his housemaid , ' she said to herself as she ran . ` How surprised he 'll be when he finds out who I am ! But I 'd better take him his fan and gloves -- that is , if I can find them . ' As she said this , she came upon a neat little house , on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name ` W. RABBIT ' engraved upon it . She went in without knocking , and hurried upstairs , in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann , and be turned out of the house before she had found the fan and gloves . ` How queer it seems , ' Alice said to herself , ` to be going messages for a rabbit ! I suppose Dinah 'll be sending me on messages next ! '
And she began fancying the sort XXXXX thing that would happen : ' `` Miss Alice !
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